60th Congress ( qfv \tv /Document 

1st Session i m.inaii. j No. 338 



REPORT OF THE 

Schoolhouse Commission 

UPON A GENERAL PLAN FOR THE CON- 
SOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN 
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 




FEBRUARY 27, 1908 

Ordered to be printed with illustrations 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1908 



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60th Congress "I ctt v a tv ^ Document 

isi Session T SEiNATE ^ ^^_ ^.^^ 



REPORT OF THE 

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Schoolhouse Commission 



UPON A GENERAL PLAN FOR THE CON- 
SOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN 
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 



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FEBRUARY 27, 1908 
Ordered to be printed with illustrations 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1908 



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CONTENTS. 



Page. 

I. Organization and Personnel 3 

II. Recommendations: 

1. Summarized - 4 

2. High school education 6 

3. Normal schools 7 

4. Changes in white high schools 7 

5. Changes in colored high schools 9 

6. Elementary schools 10 

a. 8-room building 10 

&. 16-rooni building 10 

e. 16-room extensible type 11 

d. 24-room building 12 

7. Manual training centers 12 

8. Parental and ungraded schools 13 

9. Night schools - - 13 

10. Permanent architect 14 

11. Permanent schoolhouse commission 15 

12. Appropriations — 

a. Methods - 15 

6. Report of a former commission 18 

c. Draft of proposed law 20 

d. Size of appropriations 22 

13. Typical class rooms — 

a. Size and plan 23 

h. Light 24 

c. Heat and ventilation 25 

d. Blackboards 26 

e. Plumbing 26 

/. Air moistening 27 

14. Play rooms 29 

15. Playgrounds - 29 

16. Gymnasiums and athletic fields 30 

17. Assembly halls 30 

18. Schools to be abandoned — 

Potomac, McCormick 31 

Thomson, Threlkeld, Webster, Abbott 32 

Berret, J. F. Cook, High Street 33 

Hillsdale, Lincoln, Bunker Hill, Force 34 

Adams, Eastern High, Central High, Bradley. 35 

Garfield, Jefferson, Johnson Annex 36 

19. Portable schoolhouses 36 

20. Fireproofing 37 

21. Estimates 37 

III. Washington Schools: 

1. B. B. French Manual Training ...„.,. 38 

2. Blow and Cardoza ...o.... = „... 38 

III 



IV CONTENTS. 

III. Washington Schools — Continued. Page. 

3. Langston ......,.„..-.,. 39 

4. Ketcham 39 

5. New school No. 153 40 

6. New school No. 154 40 

7. Figures of costs 41 

IV. New York Schools: 

1. General features 42 

2. School No. 146, Brooklyn - 43 

3. De Witt Clinton High School 43 

4. Stuyvesant High School 44 

5. School No. 84, Long Island City 45 

6. School No. 40, Bronx 45 

7. School No. 30, Richmond 46 

8. Parental Home School, Flushing 46 

9. New type school, New York 46 

V. Chicago Schools: 

1. Stephen K. Hayt School 47 

2. Graeme-Stewart School 47 

3. Bernard-Moos School 48 

4. New Tilton School = 48 

VI. Boston Schools: 

1. General features , = 50 

2. Mather school 53 

3. Thomas Gardner School 53 

4. Dearborn School 54 

5. Oliver Wendell Holmes School 54 

6. John G. Whittier School. 55 

7. Oliver Hazard Perry School 55 

8. James Otis School 56 

9. Samuel W. Mason School 56 

10. Charlestown High School 56 

11. Normal and Girls' Latin group 58 

12. Figures of cost 60 

13. Remarks 61 

VII. St. Louis Schools: 

1. General features 62 

2. Patrick Henry type 66 

3. Lafayette type 66 

4. William Clark type 67 

5. New type (Oak Hill) 67 

6. McKinley High School 67 

7. Tables of cost 68 

YIII. Cleveland Schools: 

1. Watterson School 68 

2. Halle School 69 

3. Doan School . . 69 

4. Rosedale School 69 

IX. Myea Jones School, Detroit 70 

X. School No. 13, Rochester, N. Y 70 

XL Springfield (Mass. ) Schools 71 

XII. Brookline (Mass. ) Schools 72 

XIII. Providence ( R. I. ) Schools 73 

XIV. Baltimore Schools 73 

XV. Minutes of Commission. „ 75 



REPORT OF THE 

SCHOOLHOUSE COMMISSION 



Washington, February 25, 1908. 
Sir: The Commission created by act of Congress, approved June 
20, 1906, consisting of the superintendent of schools of the District 
of Columbia, the Supervising Architect of the United States Treas- 
ury, and the Engineer Commissioner of the District of Columbia, to 
report to Congress a general plan for the consolidation of public 
schools in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, has the 
honor to submit herewith its report. 
Very respectfully, 

A. T. Stuart, 

Superintendent of Schools. 
James Knox Taylor, 
Supervising Architect, TJ . S. Treasury. 
Jay J. Morrow, 
Major, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, 
Engineer Oommissioner, District of Columbia. 

Hon. Charles W. P'airbanks, 

President of the Senate, United States Senate. 



The Schoolhouse Commission was created by public act No. 254, 
Fiftj^-ninth Congress, first session, entitled "An Act to fix and regu- 
late the salaries of teachers, school officers, and other employees of the 
board of education of the District of Columbia/' approved June 20, 
1906, by the following section : 

Sec. 11. That a Commission, consisting of the superintendent of schools, the 
Engineer Commissioner, and the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Depart- 
ment is hereby created, for the purpose of submitting to Congress at its session 
beginning December, nineteen hundred and six^ 

First. A general plan for the consolidation of the public schools in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia and the abandonment and sale of such school buildings and 
sites as may by them be deemed necessary and desirable for the best good of 
the public school service. 

Second. A general plan for the character, size, and location of school build- 
ings in accordance with v^^hich the educational and business interests of the 
public school system may be subserved. 

^ 3 



4 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 

In the District appropriation act for the expenses of the fiscal year 
ending- June 30, 1908, tlie creation of this Commission was made 
effective by an appropriation of $1,500 among the appropriations for 
the support of the public schools of the District, as follows : 

For the expenses of the Commission created by section eleven of the act of 
Congress approved June twentieth, nineteen hundred and six, to regulate the 
salaries of school teachers, officers, and employees of the District of Columbia, 
including traveling expenses, personal services, printing, and other incidental 
items, one thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be neces- 
sary, to be immediately available. 

At the time of the passage of these acts the office of Engineer Com- 
missioner of the District of Columbia was filled by Maj. John Biddle, 
Corps of Engineers, and a number of the inspections were made by 
him prior to his relief on May 1, 1907. Since that date the office of 
Engineer Commissioner has been filled by Capt. (now Major) Jay J. 
Morrow, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, Avho has made some of the 
insj^ections. The office of superintendent of schools was filled by Dr. 
Wm. E. Chancellor until January 4, 1908, and all inspections were 
made by him. Since that date the office has been filled by Prof. A. T. 
Stuart. The office of Supervising Architect of the Treasury has been 
continuously filled by Mr. James Knox Taylor, who made all in- 
spections except as noted later in this report. 

■The Commission has inspected every school building in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and has made trips of inspection to the following 
cities, in each of which from 1 to 12 modern school buildings were 
inspected : 

Baltimore, Md. ; New York City and Brooklyn, N. Y. ; East Or- 
ange and Bloomfield, N. J. ; Rochester and Syracuse, N. Y. ; Spring- 
field, Brookline, Newton, and Boston, Mass.; Providence, E. I.; St. 
Louis, Mo.; Chicago, 111.; Muskegon, Mich.; Detroit, Mich.; and 
Cleveland, Ohio. 

The Commission has had exceptional opportunities of obtaining 
the views of members of boards of education and superintendents 
and assistant superintendents of schools in various sections of the 
country and has especially availed itself of the fund of experience 
acquired in the study of various problems in school architecture by 
the architects in charge of the work of constructing the school build- 
ings in these various cities. 

The Commission desires, first, to briefly summarize its findings 
and to refer to a more careful perusal of the body of the report for 
the more detailed argument in each case. 

The Commission recommends: 

I. The abandonment of the 8-room school building as a type, ex- 
cept as the first half of an ultimate 16-room building. 

II. The adoption of the 16-room building and of the 24-room 
building as types for consolidated primary and grammar schools. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 5 

■III. The partial adoption of the system of separate primary and 
grammar schools to better utilize the present 8-room school buildings. 

IV. The construction of special high schools rather than of poly- 
technic high schools. 

V. The immediate abandonment of the following school buildings : 
Potomac, McCormick, Thomson, John F. Cook, Threlkeld, High 
Street, Hillsdale, Bunker Hill, Garfield, and Johnson Annex. 

VI. The early abandonment of the folloAYing schools: Webster, 
Abbot, Berret, Lincoln, Force, Adams, Bradley, and Jefferson. 

VII. The abandonment of Central and Eastern high schools as 
high schools, and their conversion into grammar schools, and the 
construction of new Eastern and Central high schools. 

VIII. The enlargement of McKinley, Business, and Western high 
schools, and the use of Business High School for all but the first 
year of commercial work, which first year's instruction should be 
given at each of the academic high schools. 

IX. The conversion of present Colored High School (M street) 
into an elementary school and construction of a new colored high 
school with provisions therein for commercial instruction. 

X. The construction of white and colored normal schools or 
colleges. 

XL The construction of a number of manual training centers, 
similar to the B. B. French School. 

XII. More liberal provision in new buildings for assembly rooms 
and gymnasium rooms. 

XIII. More liberal provision for pla3''gT0und space and the estab- 
lishment of athletic fields. 

XIV. Greater use of fireproof construction in buildings, with a 
higher unit of cost than now allowed by appropriations. 

XV. The use of portable buildings to relieve unforeseen conges- 
tion of school population. 

XVI. The abandonment of the present method of appropriating 
funds for new school buildings and sites and the adoption instead of 
the annual appropriation of two Jump funds, one for sites and one 
for buildings. 

XVII. The permanent continuance of the Schoolhouse Commis- 
sion, by law, with the following functions : 

(a) Appointment of a school architect, who shall take over and 
carry out, under the Commission, all of the present duties of the in- 
spector of buildings as to design, construction, and maintenance of 
school buildings. 

(5) Appointment and control over janitors, enginemen, and fire- 
men in school buildings, and control over installing and maintaining 
furniture and equipment of school buildings. 

(c) Purchase or condemnation of schoolhouse sites, after certifi- 
cate from board of education as to necessitv for ne^x school sites and 



6 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

allotment from the lump fund appropriated by Congress of the neces- 
sary funds to purchase said sites; this Avith a view to obtaining the 
site some time in advance of the building of the schoolhouse. 

(d) Appointment of architects to design buildings, and of nec- 
essary employees in the office of the school architect to supervise and 
inspect this work. 

(e) Allotment from the lump fund appropriated by Congress for 
construction of new buildings after certificate from the board of 
education as to necessity for new school building ; and making of con- 
tract for erection of said building. 

(/) Submission of annual estimates, through Commissioners of the 
District of Columbia, and of an annual report into which shall be 
gathered notable instances of new buildings in other municipalities. 

XVIII. And finally, the Commission recommends a substantial 
increase in the size of the appropriations for sites and buildings for 
the next three to five years to make up for the present backward 
condition of our schools due to insufficient appropriations for new 
buildings of recent years. 

PIIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION. 

The general scheme for education in the District of Columbia 
requires two entirely separate systems of school buildings. The first 
of these systems is for the white pupils of the District and the sec- 
ond for the colored j)upils. The attendance in the white schools is a 
little over twice that in the colored and the attendance in the white 
high schools is about four times that of the colored high schools. 
This apportionment of the pupils necessitates slight variations in the 
plans for high schools. 

The Commission finds that the practice in the cities of the country 
in respect to high schools differs materially. Some cities have 
genuinely polytechnic high schools in which nine or ten different 
courses are offered while other cities have special high schools, each 
offering but one or two courses. The area of the District of Colum- 
bia — some 64 square miles — which is not as great as the areas of 
most of the larger cities of the country, would seem to indicate the 
advisability of establishing special high schools here rather than 
polytechnic high schools. This also tends somewhat to the reduction 
of expense for equipment. 

The Commission therefore recommends that the school systems for 
the white and colored pupils be arranged according to the following 
plan : 

FOR THE WHITE SCHOOLS. 

1. A normal school or normal college with a large model practice 
department. 

2. At least three general academic high schools, immediately. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 7 

3. A system of elementary schools of which some should be com- 
plete grammar schools and some primary and intermediate schools. 

4. A system of schools to be known as manual training centers, 
for manual training for boys and domestic science and art for girls. 

FOR THE COLORED SCHOOLS. 

A similar system, except that they seem to require at present sev- 
eral less high schools. 

WHITE AND COLORED NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

The District of Columbia already owns an excellent site for a 
white normal school adjacent to an 8-room elementary school. The 
Commission recommends that an appropriation be granted for a 
normal school or normal college to accommodate an attendance of 
300 pupils and the erection of the building on this site. This appro- 
priation should include provision not only for the academic and 
professional work of the normal school proper, but also for the con- 
struction of a pergolo, or connecting corridor, between the Eoss 
School adjacent and the new school, so that the two schools may be 
operated as one. 

For the colored normal school or college the Commission recom- 
mends the purchase of a suitable site and the construction thereon 
of a normal school building to accommodate an attendance of 240 
pupils and a practice school building adjacent to it to accommodate 
at least 16 elementary classes, including a kindergarten. 

WHITE HIGH SCHOOLS. 

The District of Columbia has now 3 academic high schools: The 
Central High School, which accommodates about 1,000 pupils; the 
Western High School, wdiich accommodates about 600 pupils, and 
the Eastern High School, which accommodates about 450 pupils. 

The Central High School is housed in a structure poorly adapted 
to this purpose. It could, however, be converted, without great ex- 
pense, into a suitable intermediate grammar school. The Commis- 
sion regards the present location of the Central High School as not 
especially advantageous and recommends, therefore, that this high 
school be transferred to the northern part of the city. It would 
appear advisable to purchase in the north or northwest a site suitable 
for a building to accommodate 1,200 pupils in academic and scientific 
subjects. 

Similarly, the Commission finds that the Eastern High School 
building is not well adapted to the purposes of high school instruc- 
tion, but that it could be used, with but very slight expense for 
clianges, as a building for intermediate grammar school work. The 
Commission therefore recommends that a site be purchased some- 



8 CONSOLIDATION OP PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

Avhat to the east of the present Eastern High School and that a build- 
ing be erected iijoon it to accommodate 800 pupils in academic and 
scientific subjects. 

One of the finest school properties in this country is the present 
Western High School with its site of several acres. This building is, 
however, not large enough and the Commission recommends an ap- 
propriation for the enlargement and improvement of the building 
so that it will accommodate 800 pupils in academic and scientific 
subjects. 

The Commission would call the attention of Congress to the fact 
tliat there is now no academic high school to accommodate the high 
school attendance in the southwest section of the city. We believe 
that within a period of a few years provision should be made for a 
small high school in that district, but that the erection of such a high 
school should be delayed until after the completion of these others 
as indicated. 

THE m'kINLEY manual TRAINING HIGH SCHOOL. 

The white mechanic's arts high school of the District of Columbia 
has at present an attendance of three times as many pupils as it can 
accommodate within the building erected for that purpose. In other 
words, there are 3 children for every seat in the high school. The 
seating capacity of the building is about 250 and the building is now 
being enlarged to a size sufficient to accommodate about 500 pupils. 
There is need of such a high school in the District to accommodate not 
less than 1,200 pupils. Not only is the building crowded now beyond 
its capacity, and not only are the pupils housed in rented buildings 
and at other nearby schools, but the school authorities are refusing 
admission to many pupils who would be glad to attend it. The Com- 
mission considers its recommendation of the extension of this build- 
ing to accommodate 1,200 pupils as extremely conservative. 

In order to provide for a mechanic's arts high school of this size 
at the present location, it would be necessary to acquire j^ossession, 
either by purchase or by condemnation, of the block of houses on 
Rhode Island avenue to the east of the present building. When the 
building is extended under present operations, it will not be more 
than one-half as large as is really necessary. The Commission there- 
fore recommends that a suitable appropriation be granted at an 
early date for the purpose indicated. 

There are no accommodations for any yard for the school. The 
Commission suggests that there be granted an appropriation for the 
acquirement, by purchase or condemnation, of the real estate lying 
southeast of the building on Marion street. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 9 

BUSINESS HIGH SCHOOL. 

The Business High School was completed in 1906. It has accom- 
modations for 700 pupils. It now houses 870 and indications are 
that the growth of the high school will be at the rate of at least 150 
a year for some time to come. The present first-year class in the 
Business High School is the largest that has ever entered any high 
school in the history of the District. 

The site for the Business High School is sufficient for about 10 or 
12 more class rooms at the north end of the building, and when the 
building was constructed, provision was made for an extension of 
that size. 

The Commission, however, is of the opinion that the demand for 
commercial instruction in the District is such as to make it impracti- 
cable to erect upon this site a high school large enough to take care 
of all applicants. The addition suggested — 10 rooms — would pro- 
vide for about 350 more pupils, making a total provision of attend- 
ance less than 1,100 pupils. The Commission, however, is of the 
opinion that there should be offered in each of the academic high 
schools — that is, the new Central High School, Western High 
School, and Eastern High School — a course of first-year work in 
commercial subjects, so that pupils who have completed the first- 
year work in these division high schools may enter the second year 
of the Central Business High School. It is believed that this plan 
is feasible and more desirable than to enlarge the Business High 
School to any further extent than recommended. In recommending 
an appropriation for the extension of this building the Commission 
^ould call attention to the desirability of a small appropriation for 
the pui"pose of changing the windows in a few class rooms wherein 
light is deficient. 

THE COLORED ACADEMIC HIGH SCHOOL. 

The present M Street High School for the colored pupils in aca- 
demic and scientific subjects is too small for the purpose and is not 
well adapted for high school instruction. The Commission recom- 
mends that this building be converted into an elementary school, 
which can be clone at small expense, that a large site be purchased 
in the vicinity, and that a high school be erected to accommodate 
1,200 pupils. In this high school provision should also be made for 
commercial courses of at least three years' duration. 

ARMSTRONG MANUAL TRAINING HIGH SCHOOL. 

The present high school for the instruction of colored youth in 
industrial subjects and in domestic science and art is one of the most 
attractive school buildings in this country. At present it is just 



10 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

lai-o-e enouffh to accommodate its attendance. The site is ratlier too 
small. It should be increased by the purchase of land at the east and 
west. By taking out the commercial pupils, as suggested, the present 
building would perhaps be large enough for four or five years to 
come. 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 

About 100 of the elementary schools of the District of Columbia 
are 8-room buildings. The 8-room building has many advantages, 
as it can be well arranged, involves a minimum of corridor space and 
a maximum of schoolroom area, lends itself readily to the best possi- 
ble lighting arrangement, and need not be higher than two floors. 
The smaller number of pupils gives better control and more indi- 
vidual oversight. The distance the pupils have to travel averages 
much less than where the schools are larger. In some municipalities, 
notably in Boston, primary schools and grammar schools are sepa- 
rately constructed, although one master or principal controls both 
schools. Here primary and grammar schools are kept together and 
only high school students separated. The 8-room building, how- 
ever, has grave disadvantages, being less economical of administra- 
tion both as to up-keep and as to teaching. Possibly its most serious 
disadvantage develops as a result of the organization of the educa- 
tional system into eight grades of school work, besides the kinder- 
garten, below the high schools. The 8-room building, therefore, al- 
lows but one room for each grade, without any room for kindergarten, 
and if a school has a class of 50 pupils in the first primary grade it 
will seldom have over 60 per cent as many pupils in the eighth grade, 
the result being that either some rooms are only half filled or others 
are so crowded that it becomes necessary that the first two grades, 
and maybe, also, the third, must be put on half time, largely increas- 
ing the work of the teachers in primary work, although, as a rule, 
these teachers receive less pay than the teachers in the higher or 
grammar grades. The Commission does not recommend the separa- 
tion of the primary and the grammar schools, similar to the Boston 
system, in the construction of new buildings, but believes that many 
of the 8-room buildings might be utilized to advantage by using, say, 
one or two of some group of three for primary work and the third 
only for grammar work. The Commission, however, does believe 
that no more 8-room school buildings should be constructed, except 
buildings of the extensible type — that is, an 8-room building should 
be built that would be capable of being extended with the growth of 
the section, at least to 12 rooms, and possibly, where the section is 
building up rapidly, later to 16. 

It would appear that the 16-room building is a good type for a fin- 
ished school building. Taking the usual school statistics, this would 
result in an organization about as follows: 



CONSOLIDATIOISr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 11 

One eighth-grade class, 1 seventh- grade class, 1 sixth-grade class, 

2 fifth-grade classes, 2 fourth-grade classes, 2 third-grade classes, 

3 second-grade classes, 3 first-grade classes, 2 kindergarten classes 
in one large room. This 16-room school building should also con- 
tain a manual training center with provisions for one room for 
woodworking and carpentering for bo3^s, and of one or two rooms for 
girls for instruction in cooking, sewing, and similar work. 

There thus results a type, which the Commission advocates, of an 
8-room extensible type having for its idtimate goal a building of 16 
schoolrooms, the finished 16-room building to be constructed in the 
locality where the population may be regarded as fixed, the 8-room 
extensible type to be installed where 8 rooms are required in a section 
possibly only half built up. Examples of the 8-room building are 
shown in this report among tlie newer Washington schools. 

Admirable examples of the 8-room extensible type of building are 
herewith submitted and are described later with plans. Reference is 
made to the Halle School, in Cleveland, Ohio, to the John H. Ketcham 
School here in Washington, and to the plans of the Stephen K. Hayt 
and Bernard Moos schools in Chicago, which are exactly of this type 
if constructed in two floors rather than in three as built in Chicago. 

The Langston School in AVashington is a good example of an 8- 
room school extensible to 12 rooms. 

Admirable additional examples of the completed 16-room type 
may be found later in this report in the new type of school proposed 
for New York, if built of two floors only, and approximations to this 
size school are shown in the Doan School at Cleveland (17 rooms and 
assembly), in the Oliver Hazard Perrj^ at Boston (14 rooms and 
assembly), and in the new schools under construction in Washington, 
D. C, to relieve the Mott School, and in Mount Pleasant. 

Sixteen-room extensible type. — The 16-room building is a good 
type for construction where an old building is to be replaced and the 
population is fairh^ settled; and where a 16-room building is re- 
quired in this locality, possibly the 8-room type carried to its maxi- 
mum extension of 16 rooms is the proper type. The Commission, 
however, believes that a 16-room extensible type should also be 
adopted for construction where a 16-room building is necessary in a 
growing section. This should be a 2-story building, with provision 
for the construction of 4 rooms at each end to provide for the ex- 
tension of the building as necessity demands, first, into a 20-room 
building and later into a 24-room building. 

Types for this construction will be found later in this report. In 
3-story buildings the Hayt and Moos schools in Chicago are ad- 
mirable for extension from either 12 or 18 rooms to 24 rooms and as 
an example of a 14-room school of 3 stories, extensible into a 26- 
room building, the Thomas Gardner School in Boston is excellent. 



12 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 

Twenty-four room huilding. — This it is believed should be re- 
garded as the model grammar school building where there is suf- 
ficient demand for a building so large, and as the type to which all 
16-room buildings, where tlie population is growing, should attain. 
It should preferably be a 2-story building, with 24 class rooms, an 
assembly room, and a gymnasium, with tAvo basement rooms suitable 
for manual training and domestic science, respectively. 

Types of building suitable for this will be found later in the St. 
Louis schools which have 22 to 26 rooms, including the kindergarten 
rooms, but which have no large assembly room. The Commission 
desires to express itself as believing that the people of Washington 
could have no better fortune in school matters than that Congress 
should authorize the construction each year of from two to five build- 
ings of this class and cost, the buildings being eminenth'' suitable for 
Washing-ton conditions. 

Other good buildings of this size are referred to in this report as 
follows: The Oliver Wendell Holmes School in Boston (3 floors) ; 
the Rosedale School in Cleveland (19 rooms only on 3 floors) ; 
School No. 30 in New York (24 rooms but no assembly room, if 
built of but 2 floors in height) ; the Dearborn School in Boston (21 
rooms only, on 3 floors) ; the Graeme Stewart, Hayt, and Moos 
schools in Chicago (all of 3 floors) ; and School No. 13 in Eochester 
(19 rooms only on 2 floors). 

MANUAL TKAINING CENTERS. 

In addition to the manual training schools which the Commission 
recommends in new school buildings the Commission also recom- 
mends that, as rapidly as possible, rented manual training centers 
be dispensed with and that buildings shoidd be constructed at vari- 
ous points in the city adapted solely for manual training work. 

Congress has alread}^ erected in the District of Columbia one 
manual training center of the type that is proposed by this Com- 
mission. The French School is located in a building with 3 rooms 
upon the first floor and 3 upon the second. A description of this 
school with plans will be found elsewhere in this report. 

The manual training centers proposed by this Commission should 
have each about 6 rooms— 3 for work of boys and 3 for work of 
girls. As far as possible they should be located near a grammar school. 
They would be attended by pupils from 5 or 6 schools in that neigh- 
borhood, who would go to them for periods of two hours at a time at 
stated intervals. It is recommended that there be ultimatelj^ about 
12 such centers — 7 or 8 for white pupils and 4 or 5 for colored pupils. 
They should be constructed at the rate of 2 or 3 per year until the 
above recommended number is reached, after which they may be 
added to as needed. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 13 
PARENTAL AND UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 

In most of the cities of the North and West provision is being 
made for the special education of the children, who, for one reason or 
another, are not able to benefit by attendance in the regular schools. 
Already Congress has made provision for the instruction of pupils in 
such schools, but has not made provisions for buildings. The Com- 
mission recommends that 4 of these buildings be erected for the pur- 
pose of educating children with physical defects or habitual absentees 
from school. Of these schools 2 should be white and 2 colored. They 
should be so located as to give fairly convenient access from the 
different parts of the city. The expense involved need not be large, 
since these schools would not require over 3 rooms each, one of which 
should be a combined manual training room. The purpose of these 
ungraded schools is to care for children who are in day attendance 
only. 

There is required also, however, both a white and a colored parental 
school which should care for children, to be properly committed to 
it, both day and night until their education is complete. Such pa- 
rental schools should be located upon plots of ground large enough 
for both play and sports and for gardening. Each of these parental 
schools should accommodate about 30 pupils. Plans are submitted 
later in this report of a complete and expansible installation of this 
kind for New York City. 

NIGHT SCHOOLS. 

It appears that often there is demand in a neighborhood for a 
night school of a different character from the day school housed in 
the same building. It would appear desirable that in the construction 
of at least one-third of the elementary and high schools in the future 
special room should be provided for the installation of instruction in 
trades. Some sections of the city would desire instruction in certain 
trades and other sections would desire instruction in other trades. It 
would appear probable that instruction should be provided for in 
possibly 25 different trades for men, women, and youth, both white 
and colored. 

RECOMMENDATION FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF A PERMANENT SCHOOL 

ARCHITECT. 

It is noticeable that on the inspections of the Commission, the best 
school buildings were found where a permanent municipal or school 
architect is employed. In Boston there is a permanent schoolhouse 
commission of which one member is the architect, and this commis- 
sion has charge of the selection of sites and the erection of buildings 
thereon, subject only to the direction of the board of education as 



14 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

to what particular locality demands the building. The architect 
does not, however, necessarilj^ prepare the plans for the building, but 
usually employs an architect for this purpose and supervises the 
■preparation of plans and thr^ erection of the building. This commis- 
sion also has charge of maintenance and repair of buildings and 
supervision and control of janitor serviced ' The new schoolhouses 
turned out mider this system are exceptional!}?: fine, the interior be- 
ing notably plain, but good materials and good workmanship in all 
minor details from basement to roof give the impression of excep- 
tionally good quality which is not observed so universally elsewhere, 
except in the newer buildings in St. Louis. 

In New York one man is employed under the board of education 
as architect and superintendent of school buildings and the solution 
of the problem here has been dependent entirely upon him. Practi- 
cally all plans are prepared in his office. The situation is probably 
different from that of any other American city (except, possibly, the 
congested sections in the city of Chicago) and not at all applicable 
to Washington conditions. The schools are enormous, playground 
space almost impossible to obtain except inside the building or on 
the roofs, and buildings must necessarily be of many stories, contain 
many rooms, and must be fireproof. Some of their suburban schools, 
however, approximate more nearly to Washington conditions. 

In Chicago an architect is employed under the direction of the 
board of education and here notably good results are obtained in the 
construction of schools of extensible type, and in the congested sec- 
tion of large schools similar to New York schools. All plans are 
prepared in this office. In St. Louis, where the school buildings are 
possibly architecturally in advance of any school buildings in the 
countrj?- (excepting in the one point of assembly rooms in grammar 
schools) an architect is employed under the school commission and 
all plans are directly prepared in his office. 

This system of having all plans prepared by a school architect has 
its disadvantages in requiring the organization of either too large 
a force to be constantl}?^ employed or requiring the buildings to be 
taken up in succession, which Avill cause a delay in some cases where 
the building may be urgently needed, unless, as in most of these 
cases, the definite amount of the appropriation for new buildings is 
at least approximately known well in advance. It is believed to be 
better adapted to the Washington situation to have an organization 
similar to that in Boston, as appropriations for new buildings in 
Washington become available annually and in varying amounts. 
The architect should be given supervisory authority over local archi- 
tects who may utilize their force in the preparation of plans subject 
to his supervision, similar to the way the work is now done in the 
office of the inspector of buildings, when the appropriation is suffi- 



CONSOLIDATIOlSr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 15 

cient to allow for the compensation of an architect. The Commis- 
sion recommends that the organization of the architect's office be only 
large enough to provide for the keeping of plans and records and for 
this supervisory work, but that the ar^^hiteet himself be a man of 
considerable experience in the design of school buildings as well as 
of general architectural training. 

PERMANENCY OF THE SCHOOLHOUSE COMMISSION. 

The Commission recommends that the schoolhouse commission, 
created as herein outlined, be made a permanent organization and 
be given control of the erection, repair, and maintenance of all school 
buildings in the District of Columbia and empowered to devise a 
system somewhat on the lines of the system in Boston for the con- 
duct of that work. As organized tlie Commission is a commission 
ex officio, involves the Government in no expense, and yet provides, 
it is believed, all that is necessary for a successful business organiza- 
tion for the work outlined. The United States, the District of Co- 
lumbia, and the board of education are represented on the Com- 
mission by the Supervising Architect of the Treasury, the Engineer 
Commissioner of the District of Columbia, and the superintendent of 
schools, respectively. Under the Commission the organization should 
be provided with an architect, who would be the executive officer, 
having charge of supervision over the preparation of plans and the 
erection of buildings and of all repairs; also of the janitor service. 
The Commission should be authorized to locate the school buildings, 
subject to direction from the board of education as to the area in 
which buildings shall be built, and should inaugurate proceedings 
for the condemnation of the necessary sites, in the failure to pur- 
chase them at a reasonable sum. 

APPROPRIATIONS. 

The Commission also believes that the method of making appro- 
priations for new school buildings, as at present followed, is about 
the worst that could possibly be devised. It is, roughly, as follows: 

The board of education recommends, through the Commissioners, 
to Congress, appropriations for certain new buildings. Thes^ rec- 
ommendations are made up in the summer or early fall months, are 
forwarded to the Commissioners about October 1, are embodied in 
the Commissioners' estimates to Congress, which are made prior to 
October 15, and come to consideration before the Appropriations 
Committee of the House of Representatives sometimes, but rarely, 
before the Christmas recess, and are never passed until about March 
4, during the short sessions, and until June or July in alternating 
5^ears. The money is not available for use until the 1st of July and 
the sites and buildings are appropriated for in a single lump sum. 



16 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 

The site must first be purchased, or possibly condemned, before the 
plans for the building can be made. If the site can be purchased 
quickly the preparation of plans takes two or three months, and the 
construction of the building takes several months, so that at the best, 
even when the board of education's requests are granted by Congress 
at the first opportunity, twenty-four months must elapse from the 
date of the recommendation of the board of education until the build- 
ing can be turned over to them for use. This places it out of the 
power of the board of education to provide for any unusual demand 
unless that demand can be foreseen by at least two years. Added to 
this, it should be noted that the board of education and the Commis- 
sioners of the District frequently ask for a new building two, three, 
and four times before the appropriation is made. 

Another criticism of the method of making appropriations for 
school buildings as now followed is the method of making the ap- 
propriation for the site and the building under the same appropria- 
tion. There have been occasions when appropriations were made for 
a site and later an appropriation was made for the erection of the 
building on the site, but this is the exception rather than the rule. 

The ordinary procedure is to appropriate a lump sum for site and 
building and the appropriation has been usually a definite stated 
sum for a building of so many rooms, no matter where the building 
is located. The result is obvious, that where land is cheap, the sur- 
roundings more or less squalid, a larger site can be obtained and more 
money left for the construction of the building than in a section 
where the value of the land is high and where, possibly, not a large 
enough tract exists entirely devoid of improvements, so that some 
improvements must be paid for in securing the site. There thus 
arises in the remote or possibly squalid section a fine building with 
ample playground space, while the improved section must be con- 
tent with a cheaper building and on a site with comparatively no 
playground space whatever, while it might well be that vacant areas 
in the vicinity of the building for children to play on as trespassers 
are less numerous than in the other case. The Commission could, if 
necessary, point out examples of this exact result in nearly every 
appropriation bill within the past ten years. 

Another disadvantage in the mode of appropriating a fixed and. 
inflexible amount for each " building and site " in combined appro- 
priation for each individual building is illustrated in the Gage and 
Hyde schools in this city. In these schools, after the ground was 
purchased and a balance left just sufficient to construct the building, 
the contractor in the former case encountered a submerged stream 
about 8 feet below the surface of the site which necessitated about 8 
feet deeper foundation walls than contemplated and added about 
$3,000 to the cost of the building. In the second case the contractor 



COISrSOLIDATIOISr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 17 

uncovered some Aery old vaults and cisterns which Avere used in con- 
nection with a brewery or wine house more than seventy-five years 
previous to the construction of the school. This required a reenf orced 
concrete foundation which added $2,000 to the cost of the building 
and placed it too Ioav in the ground, no funds being available to in- 
crease the depth of foundation walls or raise the basement story. To 
offset these unusual expenses important accessories had to be omitted 
from the buildings. 

It also should be possible for the District to acquire the site some 
time in advance of the construction of the building, as the building is 
very frequently delayed by the inability to acquire a proper site 
without condemnation proceedings. 

The alternative proposed by the Commission is that Congress 
should appropriate each year a certain definite lump sum for the pur- 
chase of sites and a certain definite lump sum for the construction of 
new building's, the board of education then to certify to the school- 
house commission the general locality where a school building is de- 
sired and approximately the number of seatings required in the new 
building. The Commission taking these requests up in the order in 
which they are made by the board of education, will purchase or con- 
demn a sufficient site, payable from one fund, and at once provide 
for the making of plans for a building from the other fund. In this 
way should an unusual call be made upon the board of education, the 
building could be provided for it within a year's time. The Com- 
mission believes that until some such system as this is adopted by 
Congress, no satisfactory solution of the new school building problem 
can ever be reached. Possibly the appropriations could be assured in 
advance, as is now done in many municipalities by pledging a definite 
j)ercentage of tax collections to the fund for sites and another per- 
centage for buildings. 

It is not believed advisable to create the office of a school architect 
to be placed under the board of education. The Commission believes 
that functions of the board of education should be confined to edu- 
cational matters pure and simple, and that, failing the legislation 
making a permanent schoolhouse commission, a school or municipal 
architect should be appointed to operate under the Commissioners 
of the District of Columbia, similar to the plan now being followed 
where the inspector of buildings acts in this capacity. The perma- 
nent establishment of the schoolhouse commission does aAvay with the 
main objection of the board of education to the .present system, 
namely, that the board of'education has no control over the erection 
and repair of its buildings, as the board would be represented on this 
Commission by the superintendent of schools. 

Another change is believed to be urgently necessary and is recom- 
mended by the Commission. At present the janitors of the schools 



18 CONSOLIDATIOlSr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IIST DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

are under the control of the board of education, while the repair of 
the buildings is under the superintendent of repairs, who, himself, 
is under the inspector of buildings. The Commission believes that 
the supervision of janitors should be transferred to the office which 
has control of the maintenance and repair of buildings and believes 
it to be, therefore, preferable to transfer the janitors to the inspector 
of buildings rather than to put the school architect under the board 
of education. The best solution of all is believed to be that recom- 
mended, namely, the creation of a separate commission and the trans- 
fer from the office of the inspector of buildings to this commission 
the responsibility for the construction, maintenance, and repair of 
the buildings and from the board of education of its control over the 
janitors. 

REPORT or A FORMER SCHOOLHOUSE COMMISSIOlSr. 

At this point the commission deems it proper to invite attention to 
the fact that a quarter of a century ago, a commission was appointed 
by resolution of the House of Representatives, consisting of Col. 
John S. Billings, surgeon, U. S. Army; Hon. John Eaton, United 
States Director of Education, and Mr. Edward Clark, Architect of 
the United States Capitol. This Commission, in a report largely 
taken up Avith the discussion of rented rooms and buildings, of which 
a large portion of the school accommodations consisted, at the same 
time reported upon the construction of school buildings. Quotations 
from that report follows : 

The large school buildings that have been erected in the District during the 
last three years have received careful examination. The general plan of all 
these buildings is considered fairly satisfactory, and they are superior to some 
and equal to the average of school buildings in other large cities of this country. 
Thej' have been as cheaply built as is consistent with the purpose for which 
they were designed, no money having been used for architectural effect or orna- 
ment of any kind. 

It is advised that no new building should be erected or any important altera- 
tions in existing buildings made until the plans and site selected for such new 
i)uildings or the proposed alterations shall have been approved by a board of 
experts representing the best and most recent knowledge in sanitary science, in 
pedagogy, and in architecture. Such an important matter as the arrangement 
of a large school building should not be left to the discretion of a body of men 
who have no special familiarity with the approved principles of school manage- 
ment, sanitary science, or architecture. It is the opinion of the Commission 
that the amounts heretofore allowed for repairs in the school buildings have 
been economically used, but that they have been insufficient to meet the current 
wants. 

The Commission has carefully considered the existing wants of the District 
for additional school accommodation. Looking at this side of the question 
only, it would appear that there is at the present time great demand for 
additional school buildings. On the other hand the Commission recognize 
the fact that there are great and urgent demands upon the revenues of the 
District for other purposes, and more especially for drainage, sewerage, and 



CONSOLIDATIOlsr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 19 

for putting the streets into a proper conditiou, and also that the rate of taxation 
upon the property owners in the District should be materially if at all increased. 
It is because this last point has been kept in view that the Commission has 
refrained from commenting in detail upon the defects which are found in the 
existing school buildings, even in the best, or from urging the erection of such 
buildings as would be considered in the light of the combined requirements of 
modern sanitary and pedagogical science as model schools, since to secure the 
amount of light and fresh air which should be furnished in such a building 
necessitates not only a certain increase in cost of construction over that which 
has been heretofore expended upon school buildings in the District, but also 
additional cost for their maintenance, more especially as regards heating, 
since in cold weather the fresh air to be supplied must be warmed, and if 
the proper amount is supplied the cost for fuel must be increased to correspond. 
Taking all these things into consideration it is the opinion of the Commission 
that for the next three or four years at least the sum of $100,000 per annum 
should be expended in the construction of new buildings upon plans to be 
approved by a board of experts, as above suggested, and that setting all other 
considerations aside, it will be much more economical to make this expenditure 
than to pay the rents of the structures which these new buildings would replace. 
In the plans of buildings to be hereafter erected, the Commission consider 
that the following points should be insisted on, concurring with regard to 
them with the report on a special committee of award upon plans for public 
schools, as reported in the Sanitary Engineer for March 1, ISSO, with certain 
modifications relating more especially to the conditions in the District. 

1. All sides of the building shall be fully exposed to light and air, for which 
purpose they shall be not less than 60 feet distant from any opposite 
building, 

2. Not more than three of the floors, better only two, shall be occupied for 
class rooms. 

3. In each class room not less than 15 square feet of floor area shall be 
allotted to each pupil. 

4. In each class room the window space should not be less than one-fourth 
of the floor space, and the distance of the desk most remote from the window 
should not be more than one and a half times the height of the top of the 
window from the floor. 

5. The height of the class room should never exceed 14 feet. 

6. The provisions for ventilation should be such as to provide for each per- 
son in a class room not less than 30 cubic feet of fresh air per minute, which 
amount must be introduced and thoroughly distributed without creating unpleas- 
ant draughts or causing any two parts of the room to difi:er in temperature 
more than 2° F. The velocity of the incoming air should not exceed 2 feet per 
second at any point where it is liable to strike on the person. 

7. The heating of the fresh air should be eflrected by indirect radiation. 

8. All closets for containing clothing and wraps should be thoroughly ven- 
tilated. 

9. Water-closet accommodations for the pupils should be provided on each 
floor. 

10. The building should not occupy more than half the lot. 
All of which is respectfully submitted. 

(Signed) . ■ John S. Billings, 

Surgeon, United States Army. 
John Eaton, 
United States Commissioner of Education. 
Edward Clark, 
Architect, United States Capitol. 



20 CONSOLIDATION OP PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

It should be here stated that the report of this Commission was of 
great vahie in the succeeding years in the construction of school 
buildings in the District of Columbia. The report was in advance 
of schoolhouse construction of that time and many of the improve- 
ments of the few succeeding years in schoolhouse construction all 
over the United States can doubtless be traced directly to this report. 

This suggests a secondary advantage in the continued permanence 
of the present Schoolhouse Commission to the people of the United 
States at large. 

Trips of inspection by this Commission, which have covered a 
great many of the leading cities of the country, have shown that 
some municipalities are far in advance of others, in questions of the 
proper construction of school buildings. The Schoolhouse Commis- 
sion, it is believed, has secured a great deal of valuable data, which 
is submitted with this report, and it is believed that such data as this 
should be constantly gathered together and published, and that if 
this is done, as it doubtless would be by a permanent Schoolhouse 
Commission, it would be rendered available for distribution and 
would doubtless be found in a short time to influence the construction 
of new school buildings throughout the United States. 

A draft of the proposed legislation necessary to carry these recom- 
mendations into effect is herewith submitted, with the recommenda- 
tion that it be- either enacted as a separate law, or placed at some 
proper place in the current District appropriation bill. 

A BILL To provide for a Schoolhouse Commission for the District of Columbia, and for 

other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of Amerioa in Congress asseniNed, That the Commission consisting of 
the superintendent of schools, the Engineer Commissioner of the District of 
Cohimbia, and the Supervising Architect of the U. S. Treasury, created by 
section 11 of the act of Congress approved June 20, 1906, entitled, " An act to fix 
and regulate the salaries of teachers, school officers and other employees of the 
board of education of the District of Columbia," for the purpose of submitting to 
Congress plans for the consolidation of public school buildings, and other pur- 
poses, be, and the same is hereby, made a permanent Commission, with the 
powers and duties hereinafter provided for: Provided, That no member of said 
Commission shall- receive any additional compensation for performing said 
duties other than that which he is now receiving by law. 

Sec. 2. Said Commission shall have charge of the construction, repair, main- 
tenance, and furnishing of all public school buildings now or hereafter erected 
in the District of Columbia, including the appointment of janitors, enginemen, 
and firemen, and shall have authority to purchase or initiate proceedings to 
condemn ground as sites for school buildings when appropriations therefor are 
made by law, and of the preparation of plans for and the construction of school 
buildings on such sites, under appropriations made for that purpose. 

Sec. 3. Said Commission is hereby authorized and directed to appoint a 
school architect at a compensation of $3,600 per annum, whose duty it shall be, 
under the direction of the Commission, to prepare plans and specifications for 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN" DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 21 

school buildiugs and to perform such other duties as raay be assigned to him 
by said Commission, and said Commission is further authorized to appoint 
architects, draftsmen, and such other employees as may be necessary, in its 
judgment, to carry out the purposes of this act and to dismiss such employees 
at its discretion, and all of the duties now placed by law upon the inspector of 
buildings of the District of Columbia, the superintendent of the Capitol build- 
lug and grounds, and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, with 
reference to the preparation and approval of plans and specifications for school 
buildings, and the construction of same are hereby transferred to and A'ested 
in said Commission. 

Sec. 4. The board of education of the District of Columbia is hereby directed 
to report to said Commission, from time to time, the necessity for the purchase 
of sites for new school buildings, which report shall describe generally the 
territory within which such site should be selected and the character and size 
of school intended for such site, and it shall be the duty of said Commission, 
either by purchase or condemnation, to acquire such site or sites from any appro- 
priation or appropriations which may be available for the purpose as nearly as 
may be practicable in the order certified to said Commission by the board of 
education. 

Sec. 5. That it shall further be the duty of the board of education to prepare, 
from time to time, in writing, for the direction of the said Commission, a list of 
school buildings to be erected upon sites already secured or in process of being 
secured by condemnation proceedings, and it shall be the duty of said Commis- 
sion to prepare plans and specifications for a building or buildings to be 
erected on said sites as nearly as may be practicable in the order certified 
thereto by the board of education, and to advertise for bids for the erection of 
such building or buildings as required by existing law, and to enter into con- 
tract therefor : Provided, That an appropriation or appropriations are available 
for said purpose. 

Sec. 6. That hereafter ^appropriations for the purchase of sites for and the 
construction of public school buildings shall be made in separate lump sums to 
be disbursed under the direction of said Commission, in accordance with the 
provisions of this act, and it shall be the duty of said Commission to make 
allotments from said appropriations for the purchase of sites and the construc- 
tion of school buildings thereon. 

Sec 7. It shall be the duty of said Commission to disburse all sums appro- 
priated for the repair and maintenance of public school buildings, and for furni- 
ture therein, upon requisitions made by the board of education of the District 
of Columbia : Provided, That said Commission shall have full power to approve 
or disapprove any requisitions which may be submitted to It by said board of 
education. 

Sec. S. It shall be the duty of said Commission to report to Congress annually, 
through the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, the number of sites 
purchased and the cost thereof, the number of school buildings erected and the 
cost thereof, and the amount expended in the repairs, maintenance, and fur- 
nishing of school buildiugs, and said report shall be made in detail, and it shall 
also be the duty of said Commission to submit to Congress, annualty, through 
said Commissioners of the District of Columbia, estimates for the purchase of 
sites, the erection of school buildings, and the equipment of same, and for the 
maintenance and repair of school buildings. 

Sec. 9. That all disbursements of said Commission shall be upon vouchers 
audited by the auditor of the District of Columbia and paid by the disbursing 
officer of said District, and upon requisitions to be approved by the Commis- 



22 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 

sioners of the District of Columbia, as now required by law for appropriations 
made for tbe expenses of the government of the District of Columbia. 

Sec. 10. That all duties placed by this act upon said Schoolhouse Commission 
which are now performed by any other officer or employee of the District of 
Coumbia shall be performed by said Commission, and such officer or employee 
is hereby relieved from all such duty or duties. 

Sec. 11. That all laws or parts of laws inconsistent with the provisions hereof 
are hereby repealed. 

SIZE OF APPROPKIATTONS. 

At this point it seems desirable to the Commission to make some 
recommendations in regard to the size of the appropriations. It is 
recognized that the expenses of conducting the public school system in 
Washington are probably higher than possibly in any other commu- 
nity, whether measured either by the amount expended per child en- 
rolled, or by the amount expended per 1,000 of residents of the Dis- 
trict. The Commission believes that changes in the organization 
might be made to work economies in this respect, but that so long as 
separate systems of education of the two races are maintained and 
an equality maintained in all respects between the two systems ( and 
it is believed no other treatment is possible here), the expenses 
must be greater than in other places. It is, however, certain, that 
Washington has not been spending as much money in the construc- 
tion of new buildings as have most other progressive cities of the 
country. The type of construction should be better than that used, 
and this can be said without criticism of the buildings erected in 
Washington recently, which, as a rule, are excellent solutions of the 
problem where appropriations are not sufficiently large to permit of 
fireproof construction. Within the past ten years the total of appro- 
priations for new buildings, including the purchase of sites, has 
been about $2,850,000. In the fiscal years 1901, 1902, 1907, 1908 only 
did the appropriations for new school buildings and sites exceed 
$300,000. It should also here be noted that this period of ten years 
has seen the erection in the District of two of its high schools, besides 
the Armstrong Manual Training School. It is believed by the Com- 
mision that in these ten years the District has fallen behind in the 
construction of new buildings to the extent of at least $2,000,000 and 
that there exists now an immediate need for new construction to meet 
this defect, a need which should be remedied by as liberal appropria- 
tions as possible for the succeeding two or three years. It is also 
believed that the growth of the District demands a yearly appro- 
priation for new buildings and sites of about the size of the appro- 
priation made for the fiscal year 1908, or lacking the appropriation 
of a single definite amount to make up the deficit acquired by the 
partial neglect in the past, that the appropriations for the next few 
years should be considerably in excess of $500,000 until the school 



CONSOLIDATIOlSr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA, 23 

needs are supplied. The Commission believes that an authorization 
in new school buildings and grounds for the fiscal year 1909 of about 
$1,000,000 should be made, and that about the same sum should be 
appropriated for each of the three or four succeeding years, after 
which time a normal basis will be reached of about $600,000 per 
year for new buildings and from $100,000 to $150,000 a year for 
repairs to buildings, to plumbing, and to heating and ventilating ap- 
paratus. These figures are based on an authorization or requirement 
of a better class of construction in the building. Most of the latest 
buildings in the District are not fireproof and are built at a cost of 
about 11^ cents per cubic foot. It is believed that the type of con- 
struction should be raised to a cost of about 17 cents per cubic foot, 
the cost decreasing for the larger buildings. This contemplates fire- 
proof construction, up to the ceiling of the top floor. 

TYPICAL CLASS ROOM. 

In the District of Columbia the class room in the buildings erected 
im recent years are 24 to 25 feet by 32 or 33 feet. Ceilings are 13 
feet high. This room contains about 250 cubic feet per pupil on the 
average attendance of 42 pupils per room and a lesser quantity for 
50 pupils per room. 

The rooms should be provided with ventilation, so that at least 
30 cubic feet of fresh air per minute Avould be provided for each 
pupil, and this amount should be introduced and distributed without 
unpleasant draughts, thereby giving a complete change of air in the 
room in seven or eight minutes, a condition which it was entirely 
impossible to obtain under the old methods of ventilating. A room of 
this size allows for the proper spacing of 48 desks with sufficient 
aisles to the teacher's desk. The plan of the desk layout of the rooms 
in Boston appended with this report has been deemed worthy of re- 
production and careful note. Adjacent to each room in modern 
school buildings there should be a cloak and hat room about 6 by 20 
feet, affording sufficient space for the wraps and umbrellas for about 
50 pupils, and also teacher's bookcase. There is divided practice as 
to whether this cloakroom should have a single entrance from the 
schoolroom or an entrance from the schoolroom and an entrance from 
the corridor. In the Washington schools the rooms serve as passage 
ways between the schoolroom and the corridor, so that when classes 
are dismissed pupils obtain their wraps as they march from the 
rooms and thence into the halls or corridors without returning to the 
class room. In the St. Louis schools and in the Boston schools, rooms 
are provided with but 1 door, but these buildings are fireproof build- 
ings. It is believed that unless the buildings are fireproof, which 
they are not in Washington, the extra exits to the room should be 
provided, as is done here. These cloakrooms are genally ventilated 



24 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 

and always should be to assist in the drying out of the wraps on 
rainy days. In St. Louis the exhausts of the ventilating system are 
provided in these rooms. This has the slight sanitary objection that 
the drying air is always more or less impure, but seems to be more 
practical than to attempt to install a separate ventilating system for 
the smaller room. 

LIGHTING. 

The windows of the schoolroom should be of such size to give an 
area of at least one-fifth, preferably one-fourth, of the floor area 
of the room. Unilateral light, as far as light itself is concerned, is 
naturally the best system that can be devised. The light should 
come from the left and rear. The sills of the windows should pref- 
erablj^ be above the heads of the sitting pupils, the top of the win- 
dow close to the ceiling, not more than 8 inches therefrom. The 
ceiling should be either white or of a light enough color to reflect 
downward the refracted rays which are secured by closing the upper 
half of the window sash with ribbed glass, the ribs running horizon- 
tally. This treatment is found better than frosting the glass, which 
obstructs or moderates rather than refracts the light. 

In Washington the unilateral light principle is not ready for rigid 
adoption for climatic reasons. Many days in the year are so hot as 
to make it necessary to have the windows open and the conditions 
are much better with openings for this ventilation on two sides of 
the room than could possibly be obtained with windows on one side 
only. Where the light is bilateral it should be so arranged that the 
greater amount of light comes from the left and the smaller amount 
from the rear. In such a case the area put into windows should 
be greater than that required for the unilateral light, so that the 
sunny side may be shaded without reducing the amount of light 
below the standard. Such shading should be attained by a translu- 
cent or very slightly opaque shade. The great objection to unilateral 
light, which is adopted in many cities, even when bilateral light 
might be obtained, is that in order to obtain the necessary amount of 
sash space practically the whole side of the room must be given up 
for windows. On the windows facing east, west, or south at some 
time of the day, the direct rays of the sun will fall on the desks of 
the pupils and the entire window must be shaded, thereby reducing 
the amount of light below the standard. 

The Commission believes that the system here of designing for 
unilateral light where bilateral light is not attainable and of taking 
advantage of the bilateral light where it can be obtained to augment 
or supplement side light when it is necessary to shade the side win- 
dows is justifiable and that to adopt a rigid adherence to the unilat- 
eral system here would be a mistake and recognized as such during 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 25 

the hot days which occur every year in May, June, and September, 
during school session. 

Relative to the size of the panes, the Commission favors small 
panes for economy in repairs. Shades are recommended to be of 
about the transparency of tracing linen, so that the direct sunlight 
can be shaded without a great reduction in the light. The shades 
for the rear windows, howeA'er, should be more nearly opaque and 
should be hung at the top of the window. 

HEATING AND VENTILATION. 

The system now universally most favorably regarded for both 
heating and ventilating is to heat the air which is supplied to the 
rooms for ventilation purposes, the air being introduced to the in- 
terior wall of the room at a distance well above the floor through 
an opening large enough to supply the necessary quantity without 
excessive currents. The outside air enters the fan room through 
screens, is forced by the fan over coils or furnaces to the warm air 
chamber, thence through ducts to the rooms. The air in passing the 
heating surfaces is raised to a temperature of between 150° and 175°, 
but loses about 50° between the boiler room and the class room, which 
it enters at about 100°. The air is delivered in a slightly upward 
and outward direction, so that it spreads over the ceiling and comes 
in contact Avith the large window surfaces, where it is perceptibly 
cooled and drops near the windows, so that by the time it reaches 
the lungs of the pupils it is cooled to about 70°. The vent register 
should be placed near the floor and on the same side of the room as 
the inlet register. The air is exhausted at a temperature averaging 
60°. Part of the outgoing air is forced through the cloakroom 
adjoining the class rooms. About 1,600 cubic feet per minute of air 
should be supplied to each class room, this being an allowance of 
about 30 cubic feet per minute to the pujDil. The amount can be in- 
creased or diminished by regulating the speed of the fan and the 
temperature can be controlled by opening or closing the damper in 
the by-pass or cold air duct connected with each hot air duct in the 
basement. Thermostatic or automatic control can be installed, or 
the dampers can be arranged for hand control by the engineer or 
janitor. The latter system affords opportunity for sudden changes 
after physical exercises of the pupils without making it necessary to 
open the windows. 

In the northern cities it is necessary to have steam radiators in the 
rooms in addition to the heat ducts, in order to keep the rooms from 
cooling off over night. This is not believed to be necessary in this 
climate, where the rooms can be quickly heated by using a return 
duct, so that the cold-air supply may be shut off and the tempered 
air of the building circulated before the opening of the school in the 



26 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

morning, the return duct being cut out on the entrance of the pupils 
and the fresh air introduced. Of course, in this system it is necessary 
that the ventilation of the toilet rooms shall be independent of the 
house system and that all ducts with vents from the toilet rooms dis- 
charge above the roof. 

BLACKBOARDS. 

The Commission finds various types of blackboards in use through- 
out the United States, from a blackboard of hard plaster treated with 
a coat called silicate to boards made of black glass, all of which have 
advantages and defects. The blackboards of hard plaster coated with 
so-called silicate require to be recoated every two years. During this 
time they remain permanently black, while the commercial slate, 
which verges on dolomite or limestone, turns to a gray color and can 
not be kept black, their cost being such that the artificial board, with 
its recoating, will not reach the first cost of the slate board, until 
possibly twenty years. The black-glass board is the ideal board, 
remaining permanently black, never needing repair and being practi- 
cally indestructible. It is, however, extremely expensive. The Com- 
mission believes that the blackboards of plaster coated with silicate 
are eminently satisfactory and probably the most economical boards 
that can be devised. 

The chalk rail is placed about 2 feet 5 inches above the floor and 
the top of the board should not exceed 6 feet 6 inches. A good finish- 
ing detail is to have a picture or dish shelf at the top of the board, 
with a panel for the insertion of drawings or unframed pictures; 
and, as is found in the St. Louis schools, with a soft-wood strip built 
into the Avail about 1 foot above the shelf, for the easy fastening of 
these drawings or prints. 

PLUMBING. 

In a building of 2 floors and a basement toilet rooms for the pupils 
need be provided only in the basement. In high schools or in build- 
ings where there are 3 floors above the basement, a toilet room 
should, preferably, be provided on each floor, and 1 should, without 
doubt, be provided for the top floor in addition to the toilets in the 
basement. Teachers' rooms, with toilet facilities, should, however, 
be provided on every floor and a separate small toilet room should 
be provided for every class room intended for kindergarten pur- 
poses. The Commission believes that the latest school buildings 
in the District of Columbia have very satisfactory toilet arrange- 
ments in their basements. As to the number of toilets to be pro- 
vided, about V^ closets per room in the girl's toilet room and about 
1 closet per room in the boy's toilet room, with about 30 inches of 
urinal space per room in the latter room, or 1^ urinal fixtures per class 
room, should be provided. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 27 

Fixtures used in the Washington schools are of the most advanced 
and sanitary type. Closet fixtures are seat action, with copper- 
lined tanks. Seats are reenforcecl with brass strips and flush pipes 
are of nickel-plated brass. Closets are vented in range and each 
has a register vent in the wall in the rear of the closet opening into 
the vent chamber to take off the local odors. Bowls are of extra 
heavy vitreous earthenware with siphon jet washout. Floors of the 
toilet room are of cement, with a brass floor drain for flushing or 
washing. Urinals are set out in the middle of the room, with slate 
stalls, double back, with an interior vent space connected to vertical 
vent duct with Bunsen burners to accelerate the draught. The 
floor slab and trough are also slate. The top of the urinal is pro- 
vided with a water trough with serrated edges over which the 
water flows in a sheet down the face of the uiinal back. In its 
many inspections the Commission saw no other urinal fixture that 
could compare with this one for efficiency. 

Drinking fountains in Washington are of the fountain type, 
either with constantly flowing water with a nozzle or mouthpiece 
over which the pupil puts his mouth, or with an attachment or 
handle to turn or press down to start the flow. Both have objec- 
tions, the former wasting Avater and the latter failing to keep itself 
constantly cleansed. It is questionable whether this fountain should 
not be replaced by a sink, either of deep enamel or vitreous ware, 
with porcelain drinking cup hung on a stout chain in such a manner 
as to drain when released. In St. Louis a special note was made of 
the drinking fountains in the walls of the building, on the outside, 
available for the children during the play period. 

Iron sinks should be provided for the janitor and in the lavatories 
for the pupils and teachers. 

The Commission calls attention to the fact that the problem of 
keeping in repair the plumbing fixtures in school buildings is a very 
serious one. No effort should be spared to reduce the mechanism of 
the plumbing fixtures, so as to omit all parts liable to be damaged, 
and they believe that an earnest effort to this end is being made in 
practically all cities visited, as well as here in Washington, and that 
great progress is being made along these lines and can be expected in 
the future. 

AIR MOISTENING. 

With reference to the moistening of air in the schools, the Commis- 
sion believes that this moistening is desirable, but is not prepared 
to state that the problem has as yet reached the best solution in any 
municipality. It is believed that it would be entirely proper for 
experiments to be tried to see if results could not be obtained that 
would justify the general use of moistening apparatus, both on ac- 



28 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

count of its effect on the health of the children and because in some 
solutions of the problem in the process of moistening the air, the 
air is also washed and enters the room purer and cleaner than without 
the washing. A very good illustration of this was seen by the Com- 
mission in its inspection of the Patrick Henry School at St. Louis, 
where all of the air entering the building through the ventilating 
system is drawn in through a spray bath, which cools the air in sum- 
mer and provides moisture, although the spray is installed to cleanse 
the air. 

In this connection the Commission deems well worthy of quotation 
a portion of the report of the schoolhouse commissioners of Boston 
for the year 1906, showing the results and conclusions arrived at by 
the Boston authorities in their efforts to treat this question. 

We respectfully submit a report on air moistening in the schools as per your 
request. 

The tests which have been made are confined to 2 schools, the Farragut 
School, Huntington avenue, and the Andrews School, Genesee street. These 
tests were partly made last year and continued this, with a view to determining 
the following questions : 

1. How high a percentage of moisture is desirable? 

2. Can a given percentage be maintained? 

3. How much attention is necessary to maintain the desired percentage of 
moisture? 

Without going into details more than is necessary we will try to answer these 
questions. 

The answer to the first one would be that from 40 to 50 per cent is desirable 
in cold weather. It was found that, while on mild, bright days, even a higher 
per cent than 50 was pei'missible, on cold days it was objectionable in some 
rooms. 

The moisture in the Andrews School was presumably equally distributed to 
the various rooms. On the sunny side with 50 per cent moisture there was very 
little condensation on the windows. On the shady side it was objectionable, 
and the teachers complained of a dampness in the air. This was probably 
due to the extra cooling of the air next windows and walls on the shady side, 
which tended to raise the percentage of humidity in part of the room to perhaps 
70 per cent or more. 

Considering buildings, then, as a whole, about 40 per cent humidity in very 
cold weather and 50 per cent in ordinary winter weather seems about right. 

To d^ermine the answer to the second question we have tried to control the 
percentage by means of humidostats. 

The apparatus used is briefly described as follows : 

A fan and radiators controlled automatically to deliver air to the rooms at a 
uniform temperature of 67° F. (This particular school has steam coils in the 
room to make up the necessary heat over what enters with the air to rooms.) 
Steam pipes perforated to blow steam directly into the air entering ; a valve on 
supply to pipes to control flow of steam; a humidostat in the schoolroom to 
control automatically the valve on steam supply pipe; a recording hygrodeik to 
record the per cent of moisture in the rooms. 

The records show that the humidostat did open and close the valve, so that 
there was a per cent ranging about 5 points each way above and below the set 
point when the apparatus was properly run. Greater variations are recorded, 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 29 

but a cause tau be giveu in nearly every case. The experiment is limited to 1 
bumiclostat, and bow permanently reliable bumidostats would prove is not de- 
termined. 

The tbird question is an important one and can only be answered in a general 
way. 

With tbe present state of tbe development of tbis apparatus for tbis work a 
great deal of attention is necessary. The simplest method and least expensive 
to install for tbe average building is tbe one at tbe Andrews School. It is tbe 
nearest to a scientific system, as it attempts to control the percentage of humid- 
ity in a simple way. 

Two phases have been developed which tend to show that special care is 
needed, and they are as follows" 

First. So much steam taken from tbe boiler requires constant care to s?e that 
the water line does not get down to tbe danger point. 

Second. There has been complaint of a bad odor in the rooms, and tbis was 
due to the sediment and dirty water in the boilers. 

There is a question of whether the water can be kept sufficiently clean in the 
boilers to obviate this. 

The alternative of having a pan of water, with submerged steam pipes and 
air passing over tbe surface on its way to the rooms, has advantages, but this 
water pan would have to be kept clean, and there are many places where it is 
not practical, on account of the space required. 

The situation, we think, is fairly stated by saying that the humidifying of 
schoolrooms is practical and can be regulated, but tbe results with tbe average 
janitor, due to the attention necessary, are not commensurate with the expense 
and maintenance of the installation. 

PLAY ROOMS IN BASEMENT. 

All school buildings slioiild be provided with 2 large play rooms 
in the basement floor, which preferably should be on a level with the 
play yards, 1 room to be available for each sex during such weather 
as requires children to spend their play period indoors. Such 
rooms, to be most attractive, should be faced with vitrified or glazed 
brick, or a dark colored paving brick to a height of at least 6 feet, 
the surface to be such that defacement by Avriting or drawing with 
pencil or chalk is impossible. Floors, in most cases, should be of 
cement. Rooms should be furnished by a low^ bench or settee taking 
a very small portion of the space next to the wall; and each play 
room should have every convenient access to the toilet room for that 
sex for which the room is intended. 

PLAYGROUNDS. 

The Commission can not lay too much stress on the desirability of 
the acquisition of large enough lots to provide ample playground 
space for children during recess. This should be easier to attain in 
Washington than in the larger cities, although even in Chicago and 
St. Louis this idea is carried out, in St. Louis even in the well-built 
up sections of the city. The school laws of most cities provide that 
there shall be 20 feet of floor space for each school child in all build- 



30 CONSOLTDATIOlSr OP PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 

ings. It would appear that more than this space should be provided for 
play space and the Commission believes that 30 square feet per pupil 
should be provided in addition to the area of 2 large play rooms. 
Where possible this allowance should be increased to 40 square feet 
l^er pupil, and should never be allowed to fall below 25 square feet. 

Attention is invited to the playground arrangement of the Bern- 
hard Moos School, in Chicago, elsewhere described in this report, 
and to the playgrounds which are provided generally in the St. 
Louis schools. 

In Washington, it is believed that the building should be set as 
close as possible to the building line, as this will leave, ordinarily a 
small parking space in front for sucJi architectural treatment as may 
be desired, and will result in effecting the preservation of every pos- 
sible inch of the rear space for playground purposes. 

In the St. Louis schools it was noticed by the Commission that 
where the normal playground sjoace was small the terrace in front 
of the building was reduced in size to comparatively little more than 
the width of the main entrance, but where the lot was of normal 
size, or larger, this terrace was extended to almost the entire length 
of the building. 

In Washington, especially in the older schools, playground space 
is notably deficient. Instead of an 8-room school having 12,000 
square feet of play space, not a few such have scarcely 1,000 square 
feet. It does not appear advisable for the Commission to specify 
in connection with what particular buildings there should be pro- 
vision for additional playgrounds. About half of the buildings 
should have additional playground accommodations. The Commis- 
sion recommends an appropriation of $200,000 in order to acquire for 
certain selected schools, as far as this amount may go, additional 
playgrounds, and that in future appropriation bills provision be 
made for the playground extensions to other schools, until every 
elementary school in the District of Columbia shall have a proper 
playground. 

GYMNASIUMS AND ATHLETIC FIELDS. 

Of the white and colored high schools of the District of Columbia 
only 2 — the Business High School and the Western High School — 
have gymnasiums worthy of the name. The Eastern and Central 
high schools have drill halls used for such purposes. The Commis- 
sion would recommend that all new high schools be equipped with 
gymnasiums that may accommodate classes of at least 80 pupils at 
a time. Where possible there should be 2 gymnasiums, 1 for pupils 
of each sex. 

Only one high school in the District — the Western — has sufficient 
accommodations for athletic outdoor sports. The Commission does 




- Amv 




t; 




\ 




CONSOLIDATIOISr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN" DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 31 

not regard it as feasible to purchase grounds near each high school, 
but would recommend that 2 large athletic fields be secured at some 
convenient point within the District — 1 for white j^outh and the other 
for colored j^outh. The Commission would suggest a field of about 
8 acres. It is possible that some such accommodation as this might 
be obtained by utilizing a portion of the newly reclaimed Potomac 
Park near the end of the new highwaj^ bridge across the Potomac. 

ASSEMBLY HALL. 

The Commission notes that there are assembly halls in the schools 
of most of the progressive cities of the country. Assembly halls 
should accommodate from 600 to 1,000 persons. In order to make the 
hall available for night lectures as well as .for use in instruction of 
the pupils, the best location of such halls is either on the ground 
floor or in the basement of the buildings. Attention is called to a 
school described later in this report — a school in Rochester, ^N". Y., 
which is provided with an assembly hall, which is so inexpensive and 
yet so convenient that it commends itself for use here. This kind of 
assembly room can be incorporated in plans for schools on either 
the " IT " or " E " type. Another good type, which, however, calls 
for the sacrifice of class-room space in the main building, is the one 
shown in the new plans for school in New York City, submitted later 
in this report. 

SCHOOLS TO BE ABANDONED. 

The Commission recommends in the following specific cases im- 
mediate abandonment of some properties and ultimate abandonment 
of other properties ; in some cases the sale or disposal of the lot and 
in some cases the use of the lot, together with property to be acquired 
as a site for a new building, or the use of the lot without increase in 
size, for the establishment of a smaller building, such as a manual 
training center. 

POTOMAC SCHOOL. 

This building was built in 1870 at Twelfth street and Maryland 
avenue SW. It is badly located on account of its close proximity to 
the railroad tracks and it occupies a very small lot, with a small 
narrow yard at either side, as shown on the plate. It is only in fair 
repair and is almost entirely unsuitable for school purposes. The 
Commission recommends that it be replaced as soon as possible by a 
modern school building in this general locality, but at a different 
point. 

m'cORMICK SCHOOL. 

This building was built in 1870, on Third street SE., between M 
and N streets. It occupies a fair-sized lot, but is not at all suitable 



32 CONSOLIDATION OP PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

for school purposes, having narrow halls, no teacher's rooms, is de- 
ficient in ventilation and has no modern plumbing. A modern school 
building is being located at another point in this section. This build- 
ing: should be abandoned as a o-rammar school and used for a short 
time for manual-training purposes, to which it is better adapted. At 
a later date a manual-training center in a new building should be 
here located. 

THOMSON SCHOOL. 

This building was built in 1877, on Twelfth street, between K and 
L streets. It is a small and narrow 4-stor3^ building, badly heated, 
has no adequate ventilation, is badly located on the lot, which it al- 
most entirely occupies, leaving no yard space. It should be entirely 
abandoned at once. The Commission regrets that in its various in- 
spections no time was available to search through poorly arranged 
and old school buildings, as it would have been interesting to have 
determined whether as unsuitable a building as this could be found, 
in use for schools purposes, in any up-to-date municipality. This 
site might well be utilized for the location of a manual-training cen- 
ter, if difficulty is found in acquiring sufficient adjacent property for 
a larger school. 

THRELKELD SCHOOL. 

This is an old building erected in 1868 at Thirty-sixth and Pros- 
pect streets NW. It is well located at the corner but is on an ex- 
tremely small lot. The building is an old brick structure, badly ar- 
ranged as a school building, the lighting being exceptionally bad, 
being from opposite sides of the room in some cases and in others on 
three sides. The building should be abandoned and the lot sold, or 
additional adjacent property acquired for the erection of a modern 
school. 

WEBSTER SCHOOL. 

The Webster School is an old building erected in 1884 at the corner 
of Tenth and TI streets NW. It is well located as to school neighbor- 
hood, but is on a bad lot, the east wall abutting another building and 
a very small yard remaining for recreation purposes. The light in 
several of the schoolrooms is of the worst possible type, coming from 
both the right and left sides of the students. Although the building 
is in substantial condition, it should be abandoned for school purposes 
and the site disposed of. 

ABBOTT SCHOOL. 

This is an old building, built in 1876 on a triangular lot entirely 
surrounded by streets at Sixth and New York avenue NW. The 
school is well located, but is entirely lacking in playground space. 
The building is in good repair, having recently been thoroughly over- 
hauled. It is, however, of an old type, not well lighted. It is rec- 




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THRELKELD SCHOOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. 




WEBSTER SCHOOL, WASHINGTON, D. G. 




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CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 33 

ommenclecl that this building be ultimately abandoned and the lot, 
being of considerable value, either disposed of or utilized, possibly, 
as a site for a manual-training-school center. It is recommended, 
however, that this step be one of the last taken among those recom- 
mended bj^ the Commission, as the building is in such condition as to 
give effective service for a term of possibly five years. 

NEW SCHOOLS TO REPLACE THOMSON, WEBSTER, ABBOTT, AND FRANKLIN. 

In considering this group of 3 schools — the Thomson, Webster and 
Abbott — the Commission recommends that the Franklin School build- 
ing be gradually abandoned as a school and turned over to the board 
of education, or department of schools, as an administrative building, 
and that provision be made for supplying the school population now 
accommodated in these 4 schools in 2 locations which should be se- 
lected and where 2 large grammar schools should be built sufficient 
to accommodate the pupils of all 4 schools. One of these sliould be 
built at once in the shape of a 16-room building and the other about 
a year later. Normal work should be taken care of in a new normal 
school building elsewhere recommended in this report. 

BERRET SCHOOL. 

The Berret School is an old-style inadequate building erected in 
1888 at Fourteenth and Q streets NW. This building is poorly lo- 
cated -on a valuable property on a business street and has 2 extremely 
small spaces for playground purposes. The halls are poorly lighted. 
The lighting of all the rooms is poor and of some of the rooms ex- 
tremely bad. The building should be abandoned as a school build- 
ing and the property sold. 

J. F. COOK SCHOOL. 

This is an old building erected in 1868 on O street between Fourth 
and Fifth streets NW., and has no play rooms, hardly any play 
yard and has a very unsatisfactory arrangement of the basement. 
The lot is not large enough on the sides and would be in the rear 
only if additional property be acquired and old buildings abutting 
removed. This building should be destroyed and a modern building- 
erected either on the same site enlarged, or at a different adjacent 
location on a considerably larger lot. 

HIGH STREET SCHOOL. 

This building is a miserable, old, dilapidated frame building 
erected at Thirty-second and S streets in 1853. It is now usee! for 
manual training purposes. Its location is fair, except that the lot is 
small — entirely suitable, however, as a location for a manual train- 



34 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

ing school center. It is on a triangular corner. The building 
should be destroyed and the location used for the erection of a small 
manual training school center and playground. 

HILLSDALE SCHOOL. 

This is an old frame building erected in 1871 on Nichols avenue, 
Anacostia. It is poorly located on the lot which it occupies, being 
lower than the road which it faces. It is ill-fitted for school pur- 
poses, leaks badly, and is not in good repair, and is not provided 
with modern plumbing. Very little of the maintenance fund has 
been exj^ended on it since the erection of the Birney School, about 3 
squares away, some years ago. It should be abandoned and the prop- 
erty disposed of. 

LINCOLN SCHOOL. 

The Lincoln School, erected in 1871 at Second and C streets SE., is 
an old building — a colored school — some distance from the pupils at- 
tending. The lot is too small, especially on the sides, restricting light. 
The light is poor, particularly in the mansard. The boys' play room 
has been given up for instruction purposes. This building should be 
abandoned and a colored school established to replace it nearer the 
center of the colored population. 

BUNKER HILL SCHOOL. 

This building is located too fai' from colored settlements and 
should be farther south. It should be rebuilt at a different location 
and the propert}^ disposed of. Several years ago an appropriation 
was made for building a 4-room school on the present lot, which 
is too small for that purpose. There is not sufficient appropriation 
to build a 4-room school and purchase additional ground. It is be- 
lieved that a 2-rooni school will be sufficient in this locality, and 
the present appropriation, with proper legal authority given by 
Congress, could purchase an additional lot and build a 2-room 
school at a point half or 1 mile farther south. This is recommended. 

FORCE AND ADAMS SCHOOLS. 

The Force School, on Massachusetts avenue between Seventeenth 
and Eighteenth streets NW., was erected in 1880, and the Adams 
School on R street, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets, was 
erected in 1888. These 2 buildings are both old, but are excellent 
buildings and in good repair. They are, however, both badly located, 
as to light, on narrow lots, the Force School having recently had a 
high modern building built close to its western wall and is liable to 
have the same in the near future on its eastern wall. 




HIGH STREET SCHOOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. 




HILLSDALE SCHOOL, WASHINGTON, D. 0. 




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GROUP OF SCHOOLS WITH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
(Lot plan.) 



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BRADLEY SCHOOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
(Lotplaus.) 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 35 

The Adams is very poorly lighted for the same reason, espe- 
cially in the lower story. Both buildings, particularly the Force, 
are located in a section where property is very valuable and, it is 
believed, should be elsewhere consolidated into one larger modern 
building and a portion of the cost defrayed by the sale of the 2 
properties. It is believed to be inadvisable to attempt to acquire 
property to improve the lot and playground space of these schools. 

EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL. 

This is one of a group of 3 school buildings on practically the 
same lot (as shown in plate), bnt is better adapted for grammar 
school instruction than for high school purposes. It is recommended 
that the 3 buildings be combined and used as a large grammar school, 
and that a new Eastern High School be constructed on a site a little 
nearer the eastern edge of the city. 

CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL. 

This building, located on O street between Sixth and Seventh 
streets NW., was built in 1883. It has a fine location on a good lot, 
being 1 of a group of 3 schools, practically all on a single lot, 
the other 2 being the Polk and Henry. The building is a fine old and 
substantial building, but the plumbing and heating plants are anti- 
quated and can not be replaced without .a large special appropriation 
for such a purpose. The building is very ill-adapted to high school 
purposes, and is far from satisfactory as to light. It is believed by 
the Commission that a modern high school should be constructed to 
take the place of this school a little nearer the edge of the city, pref- 
erably at some location in or near Columbia Heights, convenient 
to both sj^stems of car lines. This school building could then be 
overhauled, and when combined with the Polk and Plenry schools, 
converted into a group of graded schools, or should it be deemed 
advisable at that date, a portion of this property might be sold, as it 
possesses considerable value for business purposes. 

BRADLEY SCHOOL. 

The Bradley School building, which is located on Thirteen-and- 
a-half street between C and D streets SW., is poorly located 
on account of its nearness to the railroad and on account of its very 
small lot. The building is, however, in good repair and might be 
advantageously sold for conversion into apartments or similar prop- 
erty. If continued in service as a school additional property should 
be acquired, both to the north and to the south. The Commission 
recommends its ultimate abandonment as a school property and the 
construction of a modern buildino- to serve this section. 



36 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

GARFIELD SCHOOL. 

This school is fairly located on a large lot of irregular shape. 
The building is old, with small windows, some rooms with objec- 
tionable light. It has no plumbing and is heated by stoves. A new 
and modern building should be constructed on this site. 

JEFFERSON SCHOOL. 

This is a good building on a fine lot at Sixth and D streets SW., 
but badly located, being too near the railroad tracks. A new build- 
ing is recommended on the rear of the present lot at some time in 
the near future. After the construction of this building the old 
building should be abandoned and destroyed. 

JOHNSON SCHOOL, SCHOOL STREET, MOUNT PLEASANT. 

The frame building used for manual training, adjacent to the 
main school building, should be abandoned. 

FRAME COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 

In addition, there are a number of frame buildings, mainly country 
schools, which should gradually be abandoned and replaced by more 
modern and better buildings. Among these may be mentioned the 
school on Bates road, Burrville. Chain Bridge School, school on 
Grant road near Broad Branch, Ivy City School, school on Rock 
Creek Ford road, and the Tenley Annex School. 

The Commission has prepared j)lats of most of these buildings, 
showing the size of the lot and the outline of the building thereon in 
all cases, many of which will show at a glance that the lot is entirely 
insufficient for the purpose. Photographic views show the charac- 
ter of many of the buildings, as well as can be shown in such a view. 

PORTABLE SCHOOLHOUSES. 

The portable schoolhouse is believed to be a necessity in a good 
school system, especially where there is rapid growth at the edge of 
the urban section. A type is submitted which has been used in vari- 
ous cities. It is a frame house with its own heating and ventilating 
system; is collapsible; costs about $1,800 to build and can be taken 
down and reassembled for about $200. These buildings are set up, 
one by one, in the school j^ards, where the attendance overflows the 
capacity of the building, until relief can be obtained by the perma- 
nent extension of the building or the erection of a new building, 
when the portable houses will be available for similar use in another 
section. This system is especially recommended for Washington, 
where, under the system of appropriation for new school buildings, 



LrU-UiJOif ■ illTii/'-.O,. 




CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 37 

the use of the schoolhouses must be foreseen by the authorities for at 
least twenty-four montlis. The Commission recommends an autlior- 
ization of at least a dozen such buildings, fhe number to be increased 
and be kept up by about 12 in each succeeding year, for two or three 
years. 

riREPKOOFIKG. 

The fireproofing of school buildings is not believed to be so neces- 
sary in Washington as in other cities, as the fire risk is not here so 
great. If the building has, however, more than 2 floors the risk of 
fire should not be taken, but the building should be fireproof. In a 
2-story building panic from fire is more to be feared than the actual 
fire risk, and it is believed that the proper arrangement of stair- 
ways will eliminate this risk. There are, however, other advantages 
in the fireproof construction which would recommend it in all cases. 
Wliile more expensive at first cost, the expense of upkeep is greatly 
reduced. The new buildings in St. Louis are exceptionally fine in 
this respect, and it has been the experience there that not only is the 
cost of maintenance from ordinary wear and tear less, but the air 
of permanence, through the pride of the children in the handsome 
building, causes much less of the malicious defacement than is the 
case in the cheaper style of construction. This municipality, there- 
fore, goes to the extreme of fireproofing up to the level of the eaves, 
even for the 2-story building, and, as the illustrations produced else- 
where in this report will show, has achieved notable results. 

ESTIMATES. 

The Commission submits the following rongh estimate of the cost 
of the constructions recommended in its report: 

For site, and erection of a 60-room high school $525,000 

For site, and erection of a new Eastern High School, 40 rooms 320, 000 

For addition to tlie Western High School 150, 000 

For white normal school 250, 000 

For site, and construction of colored normal school 240, 000 

For new school buildings — sites and erection 800,000 

For 12 manual training centers, purchase of sites for such as can not 

be accommodated on old sites 45, 000 

Erection of 12 manual training centers 480, 000 

For addition to Business High School 80, 000 

For addition to McKinley High School 100, 000 

For purchase of additional land at various places (of which $200,000 

should be appropriated annually for three years) 600, 000 

For 36 portable school houses at $1,800 each 65, 000 

Total 3, 635, 000 

It is not contemplated that all of this work should be done at once, 
but, as stated previously, it should all be done within not more than 
five years. 



38 CONSOLIDATIOISr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 

WASHINGTON SCHOOLS. 

A brief description of a few of the Washington schools is here 
given. 

B. B. FRENCH SCHOOL. 

The B. B. French Manual Training School, constructed in 1898, 
shows about the installation that is required for a manual training- 
center such as recommended by the Commission. It also illustrates 
the skillful adaptation to this end of a very restricted site. The lot 
is L shaped, on a corner, and practically the entire space is occupied 
by the building. In the basement a large storeroom is provided, and 
opposite the hall, the fuel, storage, engine, fan, fresh air and heater 
apparatus are installed. 

First floor. On one side of the corridor a carpenter shop is pro- 
vided and on the opposite side a demonstrating room, with a lumber 
room, behind which derives most of its light secondarily through a 
glass partition, but partly through a small light shaft at the interior 
angle of the L. Behind the lumber room is a paint room, opening 
into a small yard. This floor is provided with a small toilet room 
and a cloakroom. 

Second floor. This floor is given up to domestic science and has 2 
large rooms, the corner room being devoted to instruction in sewing, 
and is provided with a separate cloakroom. On the opposite side of 
the corridor is a long cooking room, lighted from both ends, and also 
from the middle of one side through a small light shaft. This room 
has its separate cloakroom. One toilet room is provided between the 
2 rooms. This building was comparatively inexpensive, the total cost 
being about $19,000 at the rate of 15.4 cents per cubic foot, the first 
floor being fireproof. 

BLOW AND CARDOZA SCHOOLS. 

Plans are shown of the H. T. Blow School and the F. L. Cardoza 
School, each of which shows Avhat is known as the 8-room cartwheel 
plan. In the basement are provided boys' toilet and play room, girls* 
toilet and play room, with all of the necessary heating and ventilating 
apparatus and storage for wood and fuel. On the first and second 
floor each in both schools are 4 class rooms, each with bilateral light, 
and each with a cloakroom opening into the class room, and also into 
the corridor, the rooms being symmetrically arranged about the center 
in such a way that the cloakroom of one class room is always under the 
view of the teacher at her desk in the opposite class room. On the 
first floor a space opposite the entrance is utilized to provide an of- 
fice for the principal, and on the second floor this same space is util- 
ized to provide a teachers' room, and the space over the entrance to 
provide a small library room, the 2 similar spaces at the sides of the 
buildings being given up to stairs. This cartwheel type is believed to 




H. T. BLOW SCHOOL. 



WASHINGTON, D. 0. 
(Basement plan.) 



S. ASHFORD, ARCHITECT. 




H. T. BLOW SCHOOL. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
(First floor plan.) 



S. ASHFORD, ARCHITECT. 




H. T. BLOW SCHOOL. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
(Second floor plan.) 



S. ASHFORD, ARCHITECT. 




F. L. CARDOZA SCHOOL. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. MARSH & PETER, ARCHITECTS. 

(Basement plan.) 




F. L. CARDOZA SCHOOL. WASHINGTON, D. C. MARSH & PETER, ARCHITECTS. 

(First floor plan; second floor similar.) 







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CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 39 

give a maximum of economy for an 8-room school building where 
there is no intention to enlarge the installation, except at some future 
day by the possible erection of a second 8-room building on the same 
site. It does not, however, lend itself to extension in any other way. 
These 2 schools cost, respectively, $42,600 for the Cardoza, or at the 
rate of 11.9 cents per cubic foot, and $42,700 for the H. T. Blow, or 
at the rate of 12.2 cents per cubic foot. They are, however, of non- 
fireproof construction. 

Two .schools of the 8-room extensible type are illustrated. 

LANGSTON SCHOOL, 

This is an 8-room building, provision being made for future exten- 
sion to a 12-room building of the corridor type, with the 2 end rooms 
and the 2 interior rooms at present built. The space at the ends of 
the corridors will ultimateh'^ be given up to cloakrooms for the 2 end 
rooms. The corridor will then be lighted through these cloakrooms 
and through the side lights at the stairways at its ends. The building 
has two entrances, the front of which, while at present giving the 
building a lopsided appearance, will ultimately be symmetrically 
disposed. Small rooms are provided in the portion of the space at 
each entrance suitable for teachers' and principal's rooms. Class 
rooms are all provided with unilateral light. In the basement a play 
room and toilet room for each sex is provided, in addition to the 
mechanical installation. The future extension will provide for 2 
large rooms suitable for manual training purposes. This building 
is nonfireproof and cost less than $37,000 for the 8 rooms, or about 
9.6 cents per cubic foot. 

KETCH AM SCHOOL. 

This school is also of the corridor tj^pe and is an 8-room building 
with provision made for future extension, first to 12 and ultimately 
to 16 rooms. In the basement provision is made for a play room for 
each sex and toilet room for each sex, the boys' toilet room being 
thrown some little distance from the play room, but a wire screen be- 
ing provided in the corridor to prevent access between the 2 wings, A 
noticeable feature of this toilet installation is a ventilating space 
provided between the closet fixtures, in which space, through a solid 
brick partition, all the flushing tanks and pipes are exposed, thus 
providing for accessibility for repairing while the toilet rooms are 
in use. Each floor has 4 class rooms provided with unilateral light 
and each with a cloakroom with separate entrances for class room 
and corridor. The stairs are at the back of the building and at the 
present ends. Between the 2 front class rooms on the second floor 
are provided stairways to a third-floor large dormer room, which 
has been fitted up for an assembly hall and g^^mnasium, more suitable 
for the latter than the former by reason of its shape and its position 



40 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OP COLUMBIA. 

on the top floor of the building. This school is provided with an 
ample site for its future extension and large playground space in the 
rear. Its total cost was $47,702 or about 12,6 cents per cubic foot, 
including gymnasium or assembly hall. 

NEW SCHOOL NO. 153. 

Plans are also shown of the new school No. 153 under construction 
to relieve the Mott School. This is a 16-room building and shows 
skillful adaptation of the 8-room cart-wheel type to a 16-room build- 
ing, with the space between the 2 separate buildings given up to the 
entrance on the front and a large assembly hall in the rear, the as- 
sembly hall corridor and entrance being held at a level lower than the 
class room floors in order to provide for lighting the rear interior. 
class rooms over the roof of the assembly hall. Stairs are at the ex- 
treme ends of the corridors. Class rooms are bilaterally lighted. The 
assembly hall provides seats for 650 pupils. In the basement are sepa- 
rate wings, 1 for each sex. Toilet room is provided, with 3 large 
rooms in addition suitable for manual training, play rooms or 
similar purposes. Space between the 2 wings is utilized for mechan- 
ical installation, space under the assembly hall being unexcavated. 
This building will cost about $95,000 or about 13.4 cents per cubic 
foot. '. 

Playground space affords 38^- square feet for each pupil and a 
large public park exists immediately across the street in front of the 
building. 

NEW SCHOOL. NO. 154. 

View and plans are also shown of public school No. 154, a new 16- 
room building about to be constructed on Seventeenth street in 
Mount Pleasant, which combines many of the ideas embodied by 
the Commission in this report. The building has a large assembly 
room on the basement floor, which has been ingeniously designed 
to extend through the first floor, so that the entire corridor space 
required in the first floor can be turned into the assembly room as 
a balcony, and this space in the basement floor is utilized as a por- 
tion of the main floor of the assembly room, without other 
obstruction than 4 octagonal columns. The basement contains, 
besides this assembly hall, the necessary space for the mechanical in- 
stallation, 2 play rooms and a large toilet room for each sex in oppo- 
site wings of the building, and teachers' and kindergarten toilets on 
each floor above. The first floor has 4 class rooms upon the face, each 
provided with a cloakroom and with ample unilateral light, and con- 
tains 2 class rooms on each flank in the rear, each similarly provided 
with a cloakroom and ample unilateral light, opening into the corri- 
dor previously referred to as a gallery of the assembly hall. This 
corridor can be cut off from the assembly hall by a translucent par- 
tition, so that the corridor will then obtain secondary light from the 
skylight ceiling of the assembly hall. 




3. A3HF0R0, ARCHITECT. 



NEW SCHOOL NO. 163. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
(Elevation.) 




NEW SCHOOL NO. 153. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
(Basement plmi.) 



FORD, AHOHITECT. 




NEW SCHOOL NO. 153. 



S. ASHFORD, ARCHITECT. 




NEW SCHOOL NO. 153. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
(First aoi>r plan.) 



S. ASHFORD, ARCHITECT. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



41 



The second floor has entirely a similar arrangement of class rooms, 
the corridor for the flanking rooms in this case being directly lighted 
from the interior space over the roof of the assembl}^ hall. This 
floor also contains the principal's room in the space over the en- 
trance hall and vestibule of the floor below. 

The building is provided with playground space of about 34,500 
square feet, in addition to the area occupied by the building, and is 
estimated to cost, exclusive of site, $103,000. 

A short table is hereto appended, giving the description and cost 
of some of the recently constructed school buildings in Washington. 
Attention is invited to the low cost per cubic foot, which, of course, 
has been limited b}'' the appropriations available. The buildings are 
nonfireproof, as a rule, and for that reason not nearly so good as 
the St. Louis buildings, for instance, which are fireproof to the level 
of the second-floor ceiling, or the Boston schools, entirely fireproof. 
The Commission desires to register itself as of the opinion that the 
extra expenditure required for the fireproofing, as at St. Louis, of the 
building up to the roof, is an economical measure worthy of adoption 
in Washington schools. 

Descriptions and cost of school buildings. 



Name. 


Cost. 


Cubic 
contents. 


Cost 

per 

cubic 

foot. 


Description. 


Architect. 


Armstrong Manual Training-. 
McKinley Manual Training,. 
Petworth - — . 


$131,120 

130,014 

23,143 
36,855 
49,269 

6,588 

23,765 

20,134 

36,. 525 
33,375 
34,006 

20,731 
20,162 

17,927 

36,620 

19,022 

41,060 
44,903 
165,-544 
41,950 
42,693 

43,470 
42,600 
73,500 


630,100 

556,700 

205,250 
383,200 
411,360- 

43,680 

172,890 

136,650 

320,688 
353,430 
330,672 

159,672 
217,600 

224,000 

310,464 

122,950 

368,000 
364,152 
1,992,272 
366,860 
349,596 

347,683 
357,623 
428,937 


Cents. 
20.7 

23.3 

11.3 

9.6 

12.0 

12.7 

13.7 

14.7 

11.4 

9.7 

10.2 

12.9 
9.2 

8.0 

11.7 

15.4 

11.1 
12.3 
8.3 
11.4 
12.2 

12.5 
11.9 
17.1 


28-room, c r e a m 
mottled brick, 
fireproof. 

26-room, buff mot- 
tled brick, fire- 
proof. 

4-room, red brick. __ 

8-room, red brick... 

12-room, white 
mottled brick. 

6-room, red brick 

4-room, red brick. ._ 

4-room. frame, peb- 
ble dash. 

8-room, red brick 

do 

do 

4^room, red brick... 

4-room, rough brick, 
pebble dash. 

4-room, frame, peb- 
ble dash. 

8-room, red brick.. _ 

6-room, first floor 
fireproof, red 
brick. 
8-room, red brick... 

do ..... 

60-room, red brick.. 

S-room, red brick 

do 

ly-lldolV.'V-'-V-V-lV. 
Brick 


W. B. Wood. 

H. I. Oobb. 

A. P. Clark, jr. 
Do 


Langston 


Matthew G. Emery 

Addition to Girl's Cottage, 
Industrial Home School. 

Addition toBrookland.No. 
103. 

Addition to Takoma, No. 

lis. 

Abby S. Simmons, No. 134.. 
James B. Edmonds, No. 135- 
Samiiel E. Wheatley, No. 

1.36. 
Addition to Craneh, No. 137_ 
Edward M. Stanton, No. 138. 

Reno, No. 139 . 


Inspector of buildings. 

Do. 

B. S. Simmons. 

W. J. Palmer. 

A. B. Mullett & Co. 
Marsh & Peter. 
A. P. Clark, jr. 

Inspector of buildings. 
Do. 

Do. 


Henry P. Montgomery, No. 
liO. 

B. B. French Manual Train- 
ing, No. 141. 

William Ludlow, No. 142.... 

N. P. Gage, No. 143 

Business High 

John W. Ross . . _ . . 


Wood «& Deming. 
Inspector of buildings. 

John L. Smithmeyer. 
L. Norris. 

B. S. Simmons. 

C. A. Bidden. 


Henry T. Blow 

Anthony Hyde . . 


Inspector of buildings 

andG. 0. Totten. 
A. B. Heaton. 


P. L. Cardoza 

Industrial Home School, 
Blue Plains. 


Marsh & Peter. 
J. L. Smithmeyer. 



42 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
SCHOOI. BUILDINGS OF NEW YORK. 

The development of the modern school building in New York 
City and boroughs is largely traceable to the exceptional work of 
Mr. C. B. J. Snyder, the superintendent of school buildings of the 
board of education of that city, and the type used by him is an 
extremely skillful adaptation of the necessities of a city block to the 
requirements of a school. The problem that has confronted him has 
been an ever-changing one. Large sections of the city, apparently 
entirely built up with 1-family houses, are constantly seized upon 
by real estate operators and the old houses are rapidly demolished 
and the erection of apartment houses is begun, after which there 
seems to be hardly a cessation of work until the whole area has been 
gone over and the section rapidly rebuilt. It is therefore necessary 
if schools are to be supplied to meet the requirements that they 
must be built promptly and of large size, and the work must be 
started as soon as possible after the commencing of the work of re- 
building the section by real estate operators. This has caused the 
development of a fireproof building of the H type, sometimes with 
party walls on both sides of the building, at other times with the 
building occupying portions of 3 sides of the block. Class rooms 
get their light from the central area. This light can not be obstructed 
by other buildings, the distance between the arms of the H, 80 feet 
or more, insuring illumination. On the lower floors the glass area 
is larger than on the upper floors and in internal corner rooms prism 
glass is used to increase the light. Plaj^ rooms and gymnasiums 
occupy the basement floor, or the street floor, or^both, if there are 2 
basement floors, and are planned to have good light. Assembly halls 
generally have the gallery on the first floor level, and the main floor 
a short flight of steps below the sidewalk, and are within the arms 
of the H. In some buildings from 2 or 3 to 6 of the class rooms on 
the top floor are thrown into an assembly room. The corridors oc- 
cupy the space against the party wall, where the building is bounded 
by party walls, and depend for light on secondary light through the 
interior walls of the class room. In some cases they are carried 
through to the front or rear and are well lighted. The stairs are 
well located and of the double inclosed type, thus necessitating at 
least 14 foot height of stories. Most of the buildings have single 
tiers of rooms in the arms of the H, although some of the larger 
have double tiers, with an interior corridor. The crossbar of the 
H is generally nearer one street than the other, leaving open areas of 
unequal size, the larger of which, in the basement and first floor, is 
used to form an assembly hall, and the smaller, in the basement and 
first floor, to form the gymnasium. In some cases, as in the De Witt 
Clinton High School, class rooms in the first fl.oor are thrown into 





7W^^1 '^■^^j^ 




PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 146. BROOKLYN. 

(Second, or typical, floor plan.) 



C. B. J. SNYDER, 
ARCHITECT. 




DE WITT CLINTON HIGH SCHOOL. NEW YORK. C. B. J. SNYDER, ARCHITECT. 

(Second floor plan.) 




DE WITT CLINTON HIGH SCHOOL. NEW YORK. C. B. J. SNYDER, ARCHITECT. 

(Third floor plan.) 



CONSOLIDATIOlSr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 43 

the assembly hall. In some buildings playground space is provided 
by fitting up the roof for this purpose, as well as play rooms on the 
ground floor. 

PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 146, BROOKLYN. 

Plans are reproduced of public school No. 146, Brooklyn, the 
typical H -shape form, with a single tier of class rooms in the arms 
of the H, with assembly room beneath the open-air playground in 
the larger court extending under one of the wings only, the assembly 
room being 83 by 109 feet. The building is 4 stories in height, with 
a cellar for the heating and ventilating apparatus and cold storage. 
The first story contains principaFs office, library room, workshop, 
2 kindergarten rooms, pupil's toilet and indoor play rooms. The 
other 3 floors contain 16 class rooms each, a total of 48 rooms, one of 
which, on the top floor, is used for a cooking room, being 28 feet 
square. All floors contain necessary toilets, medical inspector's 
rooms, teachers' retiring rooms, etc. The building has 8 stairways 
and cost $417,000, exclusive of site. 

DE WITT CLINTON HIGH SCHOOL. 

The plans and view of the De Witt Clinton High School are also 
published, this being one of the largest schools in the world, accom- 
modating 3,750 students, containing a subbasement, basement, 5 
floors, and an attic. In the subbasement heating, ventilating, and 
coal-storage space is provided, and the greater part of the basement 
is occupied by gymnasium, shower baths, locker rooms, and the main 
floor of the auditorium. The first floor contains the gallery and 
uj)per part of the auditorium, a number of office rooms, and from 
the second floor upward the building assumes the H shape, with 2 of 
the arms elongated ; and none of the walls being part}^ walls, 2 tiers 
of class rooms and laboratories are provided with corridor between. 
The second floor is given over to biological laboratories, library, 
drawing and class rooms, and small gymnasium, with a few store- 
rooms and toilet rooms. The third floor is similarly arranged. The 
fourth floor is given over largely to class rooms, study hall, and 
library. The fifth floor, laboratories for chemistry, stud}?^ hall, 
lecture rooms, and class rooms, and in the attic a large, Avell arranged 
lunch room is provided. The building is very handsomely furnished. 
It is noted that the auditorium possesses a $7,000 pipe organ, and 
among its decorations are 2 large paintings, with ex-Governor Clin- 
ton as the feature. This room has a capacity for about 2,000 pupils, 
is well arranged, and provides for access from outside without the 
necessity of passing through any portion of the building. The 
building cost about $650,000, exclusive of site. 



44 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



STUYVESANT HIGH SCHOOL. 



The Stuyvesant High School, Borough of Manhattan, another 
magnificent and recent building, intended for high school and manual 
training purposes, is also of the H type, with party walls, the H, how- 
ever, being turned the other way from the usual plan — that is, with 
the crossbar normal to the 2 main fronts — thus giving 2 courts with 
party walls extending only part Avay from the face to the back of the 
building, the 2 courts being equal in size and being occupied in the 
main and first floors by having the court space occupied on the one side 
by the assembly room and on the other side by the gymnasium. The 
auditorium is 100 by 77 feet and the gymnasium 93 by 100 feet, the 
latter having lockers and bathrooms adjoining. The first floor, in ad- 
dition to the gallery of the auditorium and gymnasium, contains 2 
chemical laboratories, 2 class rooms, 2 drawing rooms, and 2 shops, 
besides a study hall. The second floor has 8 class rooms, 2 drawing 
rooms, 4 shops, 2 physical laboratories, and 1 lecture room. The 
third floor contains 1 chemical laboratory, 8 class rooms, 1 draw- 
ing room, 5 shops, 1 physical laboratory, 1 lecture room, and 1 library 
room. The fourth floor has 15 class rooms, 2 drawing rooms, 4 shops, 
and 1 lecture room. The fifth floor, 16 class rooms, 2 drawing rooms, 
and 4 shops. The class rooms are of standard size, while the drawing- 
rooms and shops are each 26 by 50 feet. Many of the rooms occupied 
as manual training shops overlook the courts above the roofs of the 
assembly room and gymnasium and have these sides, composed almost 
entirely of glass, set in iron framework in panels about 2 feet wide, 
extending from floor to ceiling, and hinged at the top- to be swung 
outward at the bottom. 

A feature of the gymnasium worthy of note consists in taking ad- 
vantage of the fact that the running track is on about the same level 
as the first-story floor, to provide direct access to this track from the 
main corridor, the running track itself being developed into a gallery, 
the inner portion being arranged for seating spectators who may de- 
sire to witness exercises or games on the main floor below, while the 
running track encircles the outer edge, and is separated from the 
inner portion by a wire screen. This is believed to be an admirable 
feature, especially in a high school gymnasium, where j^arents and 
visitors constantly desire to witness the work and are in this way ac- 
commodated without in any manner disturbing or impeding any of 
the gymnasium work. There are 4 stairways, all of the double type, 
inclosed with wire glass. All corridors are floored with asphaltic 
concrete. The cost of this building is a little under $700,000 for gen- 
eral construction only, exclusive of site. The site cost over $360,000 
and the supplemental contracts for furnishing the building are, in 
round numbers, as follow^s: Sanitary fittings, $56,000; gas fittings, 




i', 




(First floor plan.) 




(Second floor plan.) 
STUYVESANT HIGH SCHOOL. NEW YORK. 



C. B. J. SNYDER, 
ARCHITECT. 




PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 84. 



LONG ISLAND CITY. 
(Second floor plan.) 



0. B. J. SNYDER, 
ARCHITECT. 




PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 40. 



NEW YORK. 
(First floor plan.) 



C. B. J. SNYDER, 
ARCHITECT. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 45 

$2,G00; heat, light, and power equipment, $87,000; electrical fittings, 
$41,000; mechanical fittings, $71,000; furniture and lockers, $123,000. 

PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 84, LONG ISLAND CITY. 

The plan is shown of public school No. 84, Long Island City, which 
is given as differing from the normal New York type, not being of 
excessive size (36 class rooms) and as being suburban in character. 
The building is of 3 floors and basement, the basement containing 
play rooms, toilets, and heating and ventilating apparatus. The first 
story provides principal's office, medical inspector's room, 2 kin- 
dergartens, and 9 class rooms. The second story has 11 class 
rooms, with a large teachers' room, provided with toilets, and the 
third floor has 8 class rooms, cooking room, workshop, lunchroom, 
storeroom, etc. An open assembly room is formed on the third floor 
by omitting the partitions of the 6 central class rooms and providing 
temporary partitions in the shape of sliding doors. The corridors are 
a little wider than is usual in the New York schools, this being caused 
by the arrangement of the stairs, which are at the ends of the 2 side 
corridors, and the inside of the side tiers of the class rooms. The 
rooms in this building have outside light, the corner rooms having 
bilateral light. The cost of this building is slightly less than $250,000 
for the building alone, exclusive of site and all fittings. 

PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 40, THE BRONX. 

Another type of large school suitable for semiurban conditions in a 
rapidly growing city is public school No. 40, Borough of the Bronx. 
This building has been erected in the midst of a section where a trans- 
formation from 1-family buildings to apartment houses was rapidly 
taking place at the time the contract was let. As one instance of the 
problem in New Yorl^, it may be stated that within a radius of 500 
yards of this building site, at the time the contract was let for its 
construction, 69 apartment houses were under construction, with total 
accommodations for over 800 families, or possibly over 4,000 people. 

The building has a basement and 4 stories, with a cellar under the 
basement for boilers and storage for coal. The building is of the 
corridor type, having 6 class rooms on the front by 2 rooms deep, the 
end rooms in the rear being thrown back to provide space for stair- 
ways and administration rooms. The basement provides a large in- 
door playground, kindergarten rooms, and w^orkshop, and on each of 
the 4 floors, 12 class rooms are provided, some rooms on the second 
and fourth floors being provided with sliding-door partitions, which 
can be thrown back, forming assembly halls. There are 4 flights of 
stairs besides the central entrance stairway on the first floor. The 
space occupied by this stair on the first floor forms a small extra 



46 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

loom on each floor above. The total cost of this building is slightly 
less than $350,000, exclusive of the site and all fittings. 

PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 30, RICHMOND. 

A good type of building for suburban conditions has been erected 
in the Borough of Richmond, viz, public school No. 30, on the Boule- 
vard, between Fisk and Wardwell avenues, illustrating a clean and 
compact arrangement of rooms and stairways. This building has a 
basement and 2 floors, the basement containing 2 playrooms, toilet 
rooms, heating and ventilating apparatus and coal-storage space. The 
first floor contains 6 large and 2 small rooms, the 4 central class rooms 
being arranged to be thrown into an assembly room. The second floor 
provides the same number of rooms, with partitions permanently 
fixed. The building is of slow-burning construction, but not fire- 
proof, as most of the newer New York schools are, and cost, exclusive 
of site and fittings, about $86,000. 

PARENTAL HOME SCHOOL, FLUSHING. 

Plans are also given for the Parental Home School, in Flushing, 
Avhich provides for a group of buildings for proper enforcement of 
the compulsory education laws against truants. The scheme pro- 
vides for many more buildings than are now erected. The combined 
administration and school buildings, 3 dormitory buildings, power 
house, and farm buildings have now been built, as shown in solid 
black on the plans submitted herewith, through the courtesy of Mr. 
Snyder. These plans are sufficiently complete to be self-explanatory. 
The dormitories accommodate 60 boys, 30 in each half of the build- 
ing, a half-building being considered as a unit. A dormitory build- 
ing is designed so that the boj^s on entering their cottage from the 
schoolroom, work or play, pass directly through a hallway and into 
the basement, where their outdoor clothing is removed in a large, 
light dressing room, provided with lockers and seats, and also with 
drying apparatus, lavatories, shower baths, and toilets. Outdoor 
shoes are here removed and house slippers or moccasins donned, after 
which the boys are allowed access to the upstairs rooms. A more 
complete description of this installation will be found in the report 
of the superintendent of school buildings of New York City for the 
year 1906. 

NEW TYPE NEW YORK. 

Plans are also shown for the latest type of school building de- 
veloped in New York City during the past two years, for a semiurban 
locality where exposure is had on all sides. This is very similar to 
the public school No. 40, Borough of the Bronx, previously described, 
but differs by the introduction of an assembly hall accessible to the 




PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 30. 



RICHMOND BOROUGH. 



C. B. J. SNYDER, 
ARCHITECT. 




PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 30. 



RICHMOND BOROUGH. 
(Second floor plan.) 



C. B. J. SNYDER, 
ARCHITECT. 




PARENTAL HOME SCHOOL. FLUSHING. 

(Basement plan, Administration Building.) 



C. B. J. SNYDER, 
ARCHITECT. 




PARENTAL HOME SCHOOL. 



(First floor plan, Administration Building.) 



C. B. J. SNYDER, 
ARCHITECT. 







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CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 47 

general public, without the necessity of going through the corridors 
of the building. A floor plan is designed with 10 class rooms for 
each floor, excepting that the center front room on the first floor is 
thrown into an entrance hall, principal's office and reception room, 
and the 3 rear class rooms on this floor are clone away with. The 
wall is moved back so that an inclosed space is provided, about 50 by 
90 feet, obstructed by only 2 columns near the center, which are used 
to sujoport the rear wall of the building above this floor, an assembly 
hall being thus formed seating about 650, lighted by large skylights 
in the roof and 4 windows at the rear, the platform being placed next 
to the corridor, so that the children do not face the light. Entrance 
is had through the main entrance hall and the corridor, with special 
exits by 2 doorways at the rear of the hall and by a short flight of 
steps leading directly outdoors. The building thus gives, in addi- 
tion to the assembly hall, 6 class rooms on the first floor and 10 on 
each succeeding floor, all of the rooms having ample outside light and 
the corridor being end-lighted. The typical New York double stairs 
are used. Plans of this type are given. 

The Commission acknowledges its indebtedness for these complete 
plans to Mr. C. B. J. Snyder, superintendent of school buildings, of 
New York. 

SCHOOL BUILDINGS OF CHICAGO. 

The Chicago schools have been developed in part along the New 
York block plan. The grammar schools in Chicago of recent design 
may be regarded in many ways as model buildings. Three of them 
are shown herewith. 

STEPHEN K. HAYT SCHOOL. 

The Stephen K. Hayt School, with basement and 3 floors, has in 
the basement toilet rooms, boiler and engine rooms, 2 large girls' 
play rooms and 3 smaller boys' play rooms, a manual training room, 
and a domestic science room. Three front entrances are provided, the 
stairs leading from them up and down. The first floor provides prin- 
cipal's offices, assembly room, and 8 schoolrooms, each of which is 
provided with a separate wardrobe. The upper floors contain the 
same number of class rooms, the second floor having assembly room 
gallery and the third floor gymnasium in the space occupied by the 
assembly hall. 

GRAEME STEWAKT SCHOOL. 

The Graeme Stewart School type is similar to the Stephen K. Hayt 
School type excepting that the 2 side stairways are removed to the 
end of the corridor. The Hayt type lends itself better to the ex- 
tensible idea, as 6 rooms can be added at each end of a 12-room build- 
ing, allowing it to be conveniently extended, with the growth of the 



48 CONSOLIDATIOlSr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OP COLUMBIA. 

section, to 24 rooms. The Graeme Stewart type is more economical 
of space in its ultimate solution, providing more office, library, and 
teachers' rooms in the same space. The corridors in the Hayt School, 
type are much better lighted than Avould appear from the plans, in- 
direct light being had through the class rooms by interior windows. 
The other type is better lighted by direct light from the stair space. 

BERNHAKD MOOS SCHOOL. 

The Bernhard Moos type is shown, together with a ground plan 
showing an admirable arrangement of playground space. This build- 
ing, while to-day built in Chicago entirely as a finished building, is a 
fine example of the extensible type. The building may be completed 
with 4 rooms for each floor of 3 floors, and with assembly hall in the 
first and second floors, and gymnasium in the third, with boiler and 
coal rooms almost detached from the building under and in rear of 
the assembly hall. The toilet space and play room space are pro- 
vided for in a 12-room building, and each floor has both boys' and 
girls' toilet, the same being separated from the main corridor by 
passageways opening into an inclosed open-air court. The building 
can then be enlarged by the addition at either end, of 2 class rooms 
to each floor, the basement floors giving large rooms for manual 
training at one end and domestic science at the other, allowing for an 
ultimate expansion into an admirable 24-room building, the corri- 
dors in the completed building being remarkably well lighted for cor- 
ridors which do not run entirely through the building. The sec- 
ondary light through the wardrobes provided for end class rooms is 
exceptionably good. 

Mr. Perkins has also worked out a new type for a large public 
school building which is a development of the New York block plan, 
occupies a complete lot of about 300 feet square, contemplates having 
a low basement given up to heating apparatus, the first floor on the 
street level, with the assembly hall in the center, wholly lighted 
through the ceiling, and the rooms surrounding it being class rooms, 
play rooms, toilets, etc., many of which would ordinarily be in the 
basement. Some play rooms are equipped as gymnasiums. Above 
the second floor this building is lighted from the court on Avhich the 
corridors face, the class rooms being lighted from the outside. There 
are 16 rooms to a floor and toilets are provided on all floors. This 
plan is, however, suitable for a school of such size as would seldom be 
contemplated in Washington. The three previous examples, however, 
are regarded as admirable types for a 24-room school of 3 stories and 
basement, or for a sixteen-room school if built of 2 stories. 

NEW TYPE TILTON SCHOOL. 

Perspective and plans are also shown of the latest type of schools 
in Chicago — a plan with man}' admirable features. 










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BERNHARD MOOS SCHOOL. 



CHICAGO. 
(Plan of playgrounds.) 



D. H. PERKINS, ARCHITECT. 




"FiesT ruooc PLArs 



TILTON SCHOOL. 



D. H. PERKINS, ARCHITECT. 




TILTON SCHOOL. 



CHICAGO. D. H. PERKINS, ARCHITECT. 




TILTON SCHOOL. 



THIRD FLOOR PLAN. 

CHICAGO. D. H. PERKINS, ARCHITECT. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 49 

The plans for this construction have been approved by the board 
of education for the erection of the Tilton School at West End 
avenue and Forty-second street. The building is of 4 floors and a 
cellar, the cellar being under the assembly hall. The first floor con- 
tains a principal's office and teachers' room flanking the main 
entrance, an assembly hall with a capacity of 850 seats occupying the 
middle of the building, entered through a large foyer, the 2 front 
corners of the building being occupied on one side by a large class 
room and on the other side by a kindergarten, the assembly room 
being flanked by 6-foot corridors, there being 1 large play room, 26 
by 49 feet, for each sex, the boiler room and heating and ventilating 
plant occupying the end central portion of the building behind the 
assembly room. Girls' and boj^s' toilets flanking this installation 
occupy the present corners of the building, each being separated from 
the corridors by an open-air court similar to the toilet rooms in the 
Bernhard Moos School. The building has, in addition to the main 
entrance, side entrances leading into the side corridors opposite 2 side 
doors of the assembly hall; there are also 2 other entrances at the 
present ends of these corridors. The second floor has 3 class rooms 
on each side of the building and has balconies provided for the 
assembly hall. It has also domestic science and manual training 
rooms over the space occupied below by the engines and fans; it has 
arrangements for toilet rooms as on the floor below and has 2 teachers' 
toilet rooms above the principal's and teachers' rooms on the floor 
below. 

The third floor has 6 class rooms and a large gymnasium 30 feet 
by 68 feet, the same toilet arrangements as below and an open court 
over the roof of the assembly, a large library room being provided 
at the front of the building and 2 teachers' toilet rooms as on the 
floor below. 

The fourth floor has 6 class rooms and instruction room over library 
room, and has teachers' toilet room and pupils' toilet rooms as on the 
floor below, there being no room on this floor over the gymnasium. 

The building is provided with 4 flights of stairs at the inner 
angles of the U-shaped corridor, as shown on the plans. Each room 
is provided with a wardrobe, which is separated from the room by a 
sliding vertical shutter. The rooms are provided with unilateral 
light, and the corridors, except on the third and fourth floors, with 
secondary light through the class rooms on one side and the assem- 
bly hall on the other. The plans provide for extension by the addi- 
tion to the building through the extension of the 2 wings, provid- 
ing 6 additional rooms on each floor, the boiler room being designed 
to take an additional boiler for the service of the addition to the 
building over and above the two required for the service of the por- 
tion of the plant to be erected in the first instance. 



50 CONSOLTDATTOISr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 

The Commission acknowledges its indebtedness to Mr. D. H. Per- 
kins, architect for the board of education of Chicago, for the details 
of these buildings. 

BOSTON SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

The construction and repair of school buildings in Boston is vested 
in a board of schoolhouse commissioners, which board has charge of 
all school buildings and grounds, keeping the same in order and re- 
pair, the responsibility of selecting land for new school buildings, 
the district where one is needed being first designated by the school 
committee, and the duty of requesting the board of street commis- 
sioners to take the land selected, of appointing architects for new 
buildings, and of erecting and furnishing buildings ready for use. 
This commission is composed of 3 members, 1 of whom is by profes- 
sion an architect, 1 by profession a contractor and builder, and 1 by 
profession a lawyer. Largely through the courtesy of Mr. R. Clip- 
ston Sturgis, the architect, and chairman of this board, the Commis- 
sion has secured many valuable suggestions and much information on 
school buildings. 

In Boston school buildings are divided into 3 classes — primary 
schools, grammar schools, and high schools — and the board is gradu- 
ally formulating a policy for the treatment of these different classes 
of buildings. The primary schools are designed small and are nu- 
merous, so that any given district will be served without necessity 
of long walks for the smaller children, although large primary 
schools have been erected with a view to relieving crowded conditions 
existing over a large area, and always in such cases difficulty has 
been found to relieve the small, crowded schools, as the children are 
forced to walk a longer distance to their new school. For j)rimary 
schools the normal sized room type is 24 by 30 feet, with a height of 
not less than 13 feet. The size of this room for grammar schools is 
increased to 26 by 32 feet. Unilateral light is aimed at, the glass 
of the window to be not less than one-fifth the area of the floor. Each 
room is provided with a wardrobe. Corridors are provided not less 
than 8 feet in width where the floor contains 4 rooms, or 10 feet in 
width for more than 4 rooms, the width governed by the length of 
the corridor and access to the stairs. Heating of the rooms is direct, 
as is also the ventilation, with ample duct capacity. The heating of 
the corridors is direct, but no ventilation is provided. Staircases 
are regulated by the building laws, but are made of fireproof con- 
struction in all cases. General toilet rooms are provided in the base- 
ment, in size approximating space for 3 water-closets for each school- 
room — 2 for girls, 1 for boys, 36 inches urinal space for each 
schoolroom for the boys. Heating of these rooms is direct. The 
rooms are well ventilated artificially. Play rooms are provided in 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 51 

the basement and play space in surrounding yards. Assembly halls 
are provided for all grammar schools, to accommodate the whole 
number of pupils in the smaller ones, and 800 or 900 in the larger 
ones. In some cases these rooms are 2 floors high and a gallery 
is used. The manual training room is provided generally in the 
grammar school, located in the basement, preferably the corner room, 
so that ample light may be obtained from at least two sides. A domes- 
tic science room is also provided, similar to the manual training 
room, with bilateral light. Kindergarten rooms are made slightly 
larger than class rooms, comprising a large room and a small room, 
supply closet, wardrobe, teachers' closet and water-closet with a 
bowl or sink. These rooms frequently have bilateral light. High 
school class rooms are laid out for classes of 36 or 42, with larger 
rooms to accomodate 60 to 80 pupils, the former rooms generally 
being the standard grammar class room size, 26 by 32 feet, and the 
latter 33f by 43 feet. Lecture rooms are provided and generally 
inserted between the laboratories for physics and chemistry. Chem- 
ical laboratories are usually about 30 by 40 feet and are preferably 
corner rooms with bilateral light. The physical laboratory is sim- 
ilar in size. The biological laboratory is similar in size, and should 
be, preferably, a corner room with southeast exposure. Gymnasium 
and drill hall are generally located in the basement, directly under 
the assembly hall, with clear span of ceiling and combined height 
of basement and first floor. Visitors' gallery is generally provided, 
at the same grade and entering from the first floor, at least at one 
end. Handicraft rooms are used in the high schools, corresponding 
with the manual training work in grammar schools, and in addition 
thereto. A room about 30 by 40 feet is provided for domestic science, 
this space possibly being cut up into a kitchen and 2 smaller rooms 
for showing care of dining room and bedroom. A drawing room, 
tl^a size of a large class room, preferably divided into 2 drawing 
rooms with workroom between, light preferably should be north. 

High schools located at a distance from the homes of the pupils 
are invariably provided with a lunch counter, equipped so that sim- 
ple food can be served hot. Arrangement is generally made with 
outside caterers to provide the food. Generally wardrobes in the 
high schools are provided by a common room, with lockers, on the 
lower floor. All new buildings are required to be fireproof, are fig- 
ured for an allowance of from 30,000 to 35,000 cubic feet per class 
room, for the lower elemientary schools, at 22 cents per cubic foot 
cost, and allowing a sliding schedule of cubic feet per class room for 
the higher elementarj^ schools at 22 cents per cubic foot. 

Buildings are ordinarily finished in common red brick and stone 
for the exteriors, with less ornamentation for the smaller buildings. 
The grounds outside of the buildings are arranged to give 25 to 40 



52 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

square feet of play space per pupil, including such planted spaces and 
gardens as are desired. For high schools the allowance per cubic 
foot is raised to 24 cents and the number of cubic feet per class room 
is higher than in the elementary schools. These figures of cost are 
quite closely adhered to, but may be exceeded where foundations are 
soft, requiring piling or waterproofing, or any unusual expense for 
grading. The buildings are usually 2 stories and basement or 3 
stories and basement. In some cases irregularly shaped lots are very 
satisfactorily treated — as- for example, the Oliver Wendell Holmes, 
and the Dearborn public grammar schools. The usual case finds the 
treating of a site which has but one really desirable exposure, or a 
site which has 2 equally desirable exposures, or a site having 3 or 4 
sides equally available for exposure. East and west are statedly 
most desirable — north poorest of all, excepting for corner rooms, 
which can be lighted from the other direction. 

Various arrangements of rooms grouped on either side of a central 
corridor have been found satisfactory. The Jefferson School pos- 
sibly is the simplest, with rooms on either side of the corridor, all 
facing one way, exits being at the end of the corridor. 

The Oliver Hazard Perry Grammar School and the James Otis 
Primary School are similar to this, with the end rooms turned about. 
This grammar school has a second-story assembly hall, but the rooms 
at the end are turned about in order to get the best exposure. 

The Ellis Mendell and the John Greenleaf Whittier are examples 
of the corridor type, where one side is distinctly preferable for light, 
and is a good type for use where the ends of the building are not 
free. The type illustrated by the Sarah J. Baker gives an 8-room 
floor plan where two 4-room plans are put together with a connecting 
corridor. This involves four stairways and gives an economical 
structure, but is very defective from the view-point of administration. 

The Mather plan shows a corridor plan, with the addition of 
wings, somewhat similar to the New York H plan. In this plan the 
center of the building is sacrificed on the second and third floors to 
an assembly hall, while in the New York type the assembly hall is 
placed nearer to the ground, where it is of more use to the public and 
outside of the main space of the building. 

The Thomas Gardner plan is a plan devised for future extension, 
to be placed in the center of a large lot, lighted from all sides, the 
plan showing only a portion of the building constructed, Avith its 
assembly hall occupying the space which will ultimately be the mid- 
dle of the building, and being top-lit only. 

Plans are shown of the following schools, which are briefly 
described : 




( Fir^t floor.) 




(Basement.) 



THOMAS GARDNER GRAMMAR 
SCHOOL. 



STICKNEY & AUSTIN, 
ARCHITECTS. 




(Third floor.) 




(Second floor.) 



THOMAS GARDNER GRAMMAR 
SCHOOL. 



STIGKNEY & AUSTIN, 
ARCHITECTS. 



CONSOLIDATION OP PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 53 



MATHER SCHOOL. 



Completed in 1905 ; cost, exclusive of site, about $290,000. This is a 
grammar school with basement and 'i floors. First floor contains 4 
class rooms facing on the central corridor and 4 class rooms in each 
wing facing on a corridor lighted from the court. The building has 
2 entrances from the front and 2 from the rear, the entrances being 
on opposite sides of the main corridor and separating the groupings 
of rooms into 3 groups of 4 rooms each. Master's and teachers' rooms 
are provided in the space occupying the public entrance stairways, 
there being only 2 flights of stairs leading from the first floor up- 
ward. The second and third floors each contain 8 class rooms and a 
large assembly room, the assembly room lying astride the corridor 
and being used as a corridor when necessary. Two small anterooms 
are provided adjoining the stage, and the room is entirely lighted 
from the court at the backs of the children. A view of the assembly 
hall in the Mather School, showing the corridor passing through the 
center of the building, is given. 

The Oliver Wendell Holmes and the Dearborn Grammar schools, 
both irregularly shaped buildings, also give examples of the corridor 
being obstructed by an assembly hall, which is utilized as a corridor 
when necessary. 

THOMAS GARDNER GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 

The Thomas Gardner Grammar School is also shown, in perspective 
and plan. This building was also completed in 1905, so far as it is 
at present planned, at a cost of about $140,000. The building has a 
basement and 3 floors, the basement containing the boiler and coal- 
storage room, boys' and girls' toilets, manual training room in one 
corner, cooking room in another, girls' and boys' play rooms adjoin- 
ing their toilets. The first floor has an interior corridor thrown into 
an assembly hall, surrounded by some half dozen columns which 
partially obstruct the space. There are 4 class rooms on this floor, 
besides the teachers' room lying between the entrance and the stair- 
case, the entrance and the staircase being connected by a corridor 
separated by a partition from the platform to the assembly room. 
The main entrance to the building at present occupies one corner, 
but when the building is ultimately completed to its full size, will 
occupy the center of this front. The second floor has an interior 
corridor lighted from the inner court, the walls being carried by the 
columns which are apparent in the assembly room on the floor below. 
It has 5 class rooms and a principal's room. The third floor has 5 
class rooms and a store room. Four class rooms on each of the first, 
second, and third floors, will be added when the building is completed, 
expanding the size of the building readily from its present capacity 



54 COlSrSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 

of a 14-room schoolhouse to one of 26 rooms, exclusive of assembly 
hall and the manual training and domestic science room. 

A view of the assembly hall of this school and the obstruction that 
the columns form is given. 

DEARBORN GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 

The Dearborn Grammar School is a building located on an irreg- 
ularly shaped lot, and was completed in December, 1905, at a cost of 
a little more than $210,000, exclusive of the land. This building is a 
3-story and basement structure, containing, in the basement, boiler 
and fan room, boys' and girls' toilets, boys' and girls' play rooms, 
and, in the corners, domestic science and manual training rooms. 
The building is of the through-corridor type, the corridor having 2 
angles of about 140 degrees each. The corridors terminate in bay 
windows, with stairs at both ends. The building has 2 basement 
entrances, near the angle, at the back, one for boys and the other 
for girls. Its principal entrance, however, is a large, stately one at 
the apex in the front. The first floor contains 8 class rooms and some 
small teachers' and office rooms; the second floor 9 class rooms; and 
the third floor 4 class rooms and a large assembly hall, taking the 
place of the central corridor, and the T) class rooms on the floor below, 
giving another examxDle of an assembly hall having corridor running 
in front of the stage. Two small anterooms flank the center and 
rear of the stage. A view is shown of this assembly hall with the 
stage and the entrance to one corridor. This building is of the type 
where end light is less desirable and the end walls are void of win- 
dows, except in the basement and in the bay windows in the ends of 
the corridor, which are thus end lighted. 

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 

The Oliver Wendell Holmes Grammar School, of which the front 
and end views are shown and plans * of all floors, is another building 
on an irregularly shaped lot, and consists of a central portion with 
2 wider wings. The floor plan illustrates the corridor type where the 
end light is desirable. In the central part of the building the base- 
ment is given up to heating and ventilating apparatus and coal stor- 
age. The 2 southern corners at each end are devoted to manual 
training and domestic science, boys' toilet adjacent to the former and 
girls' to the latter, with large play rooms between these respective 
installations and the stem of the building. The corridor on the first 
floor is in the front of the building, and, in the 2 wings, extends only 
through to the last class room, and is exceptionallj^ well lighted hj 
reason of the great length of its outside exposure in the stem of the 

* Not printed. 




(First floor.) 




DEARBORN GRAMMAR 
SCHOOL. 



(Basement.) 
BOSTON. 



EDWIN J. LEWIS, Jr. 
ARCHITECT. 




(Third floor. ) 




DEARBORN GRAMMAR 
SCHOOL. 



(Second floor.) 
BOSTON. 



EDWIN J. LEWIS, Jr. 
ARCHITECT. 






5, 






. ^ ^ i»3 fO <i- 






^ M T K k 










>1 






CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OP COLUMBIA. 55 

building. A small room, suitable for master's or teachers' room, is 
located on this floor between the corridor and the central class room, 
the latter being pushed about 10 feet to the rear to give this space, 
the same extra space being utilized in the second and third floors for 
the stage of the assembly hall. The teachers' room takes the place of 
one class room in the western wing, there being thus 4 class rooms in 
the eastern wing, 3 class rooms and teachers' room in the western 
wing, and 3 class rooms in the stem on the first floor. On the 
second floor are the master's room and 3 class rooms in the western 
wing, 4 class rooms in the eastern wing, and 2 anterooms and assem- 
bly hall in the stem, the assembly hall coming entirely to the front 
wall of the building, the part over the first floor corridor being used 
as a passageway when not in use for assembly purposes. Two large 
anterooms flank this hall on both sides. The assembly hall continues 
through the third floor, with a 5-foot gallery to serve as a balcony 
and corridor combined, there being also side balconies provided with 
several rows of benches. There are, as in the floor below, 7 class 
rooms and teachers' rooms on this floor. The building has 2 base- 
ment entrances, leading directly into the play rooms, and 2 main en- 
trances to the first floor near the bends in the corridor, the stairs occu- 
pying the reentrant space directly opposite this entrance in wells 
extending entirely to the third floor. A view of the assembly hall in 
this school is given, showing the corridor passing through the rear 
of the assembly hall and the balcony corridor on the floor above. 
This building was completed in September, 1905, at a cost of about 
$195,000. 

THE JOHN G. WHITTIER SCHOOL. 

This school was completed in September, 1905, at a cost of about 
$75,000. It is a fine two-story and basement primary school of the cor- 
ridor type, where one-side light is distinctly preferable and where it is 
not necessary or feasible to use the end of the building for light, the 
ends in this building being blank walls, excepting for one room used 
for kindergarten instruction. The building has 5 class rooms on the 
first floor and 5 and a small room on the second floor, besides having a 
small room attached to the kindergarten and 2 small rooms flanking 
the main entrance stairs on the first floor. The basement of this room 
contains boys' and girls' toilets and boys' and girls' play rooms, to- 
gether with the necessary space for the heating and ventilating plant. 
The gravity system of heating and ventilation is used and a plan is 
given showing this installation. 

THE OLIVER HAZARD TERRY SCHOOL. 

This is a 14-room grammar school, typical of the smallest building 
for grammar courses built by the Boston Commission, and may well 



56 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OP COLUMBIA. 

be regarded as a model grammar school building. The basement has 
a high ceiling about 14 feet, which is connected to th'e general venti- 
lating system of the building and contains manual training room and 
room for domestic science, in addition to the usual toilet rooms. Toilet 
rooms have separate exits and entrances and the building has 2 base- 
ment entrances, 1 at each end of the central corridor, and 1 at the 
same point in the main entrance of the building, on each side. Class 
rooms are of standard size and the lighting unilateral and beyond 
criticism, with large, wide windows extending to the ceiling. Cloak 
rooms are the usual small rooms, with entrance inside the main class 
room door. Each class room is provided with a built-in cabinet, con- 
sisting of cupboard above and drawers below. The building has 3 
floors and in addition to the class rooms has an assembly hall seating 
750 pupils, arranged with oak settees. The heating and ventilating is 
by the plenum system, and a plat is submitted giving the details and 
showing the lay-out in the basement. This building is undoubtedly 
in all respects one of the best school buildings in the United States. It 
is well worthy of careful study on the part of any architect engaged 
in work of this class. The work was completed at about a cost of 
$146,000, in 1905. (Plans not printed.) 

THE JAMES OTIS PRIMARY SCHOOL. 

A view * and plan of the James Otis Primary Schoolhouse is also 
shown. The building was completed in 1905, at a cost of about $108,- 
000, being cited by the schoolhouse commissioners as an excellent ex- 
ample of the advisability of a single contract for the entire work to 
facilitate the completion of the building. 

SAMUEL W. MASON PRIMARY SCHOOL. 

The Samuel W. Mason Primary Schoolhouse is also shown, in view 
and plan.* This school was completed in August, 1905, at a complete 
cost of about $118,000, exclusive of site, the cost being slightly excess- 
ive by reason of the necessity of piling the foundation and doing a 
great deal of grading of the lot. 

CHARLESTOWN HIGH SCHOOL. 

This building, of which 2 views and several floor plans * are given, 
is one of the finest high schools- in the country. On account of its 
close proximity to the Bunker Hill Monument and attendant build- 
ings, it was decided to finish it in granite and with exceptionally fine 
architectural treatment. The result has been a beautiful small high 
school, with a capacity of about 540 pupils, at a total cost of slightly 
under $300,000. The building has 3 main floors besides a ground 
floor and a basement floor, the basement floor being occupied by the 
heating, power, and ventilation installation. The ground floor, 

* Not printed. 





CHARLESTOWN HIGH SCHOOL. 



BOSTON. STICKNEY & AUSTIN, ARCHITECTS. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 57 

which is j^artially below tlie ground on one face of tlie building and 
well above the ground an the opposite face, the building being built 
on a fairly steep hillside site, contains a large gymnasium, extending 
also through the first floor, the bo3''s' toilet room and wardrobe in one 
corner, the girls' wardrobe and toilet room in the opposite corner, 
the latter being flanked by a group of rooms for domestic science, 
comprising main cooking room, typical bedroom, typical dining room, 
and typical pantry, the other corner being occupied by the rooms 
for use in connection with the gymnasium — locker and dressing 
rooms and a number of showers. A large lunch room is provided on 
this floor between the girls' baths, wardrobe, and entrance lobby. 
Exit and entrance, with steps up and down, are at the ends of the 
corridor, running through the building slightly off the center line. 

The first floor has in front of the central corridor 3 large class 
rooms w^th unilateral light and small recitation rooms, principal's 
office, and a room for women teachers. Behind the corridor, on one 
face of the building, is a small recitation room and a large handicraft 
room and on the other face a recitation room and a large class room, 
the 2 corner rooms being given bilateral light. As remarked before, 
the gymnasium extends through this floor. Notable features are the 
toilet rooms provided in the mezzanine floors with access from the 
landing of the stairs half way between 2 floors. The third floor front 
is occupied by chemical and physiological laboratories, each having a 
small workroom attached and a lecture room between. These are all 
large rooms — the 2 corner ones having bilateral light. The corri- 
dor of this floor is much wider than on the floor below, excepting 
for a recess containing the stage of the assembly hall. One corner is 
occupied by the botanical and zoological laboratories, with bilateral 
light, with a girls' toilet between it and tlie hall and corridor. The 
other corner is a large drawing room with bilateral light and a reci- 
tation room with unilateral light and small corridor leading thereto. 
The assembly hall occupies the space on this and the third floor. 

The second floor contains along the front of the building 2 class 
rooms with unilateral light in each corner, library, class room, recita- 
tion room, with unilateral light betAveen and 2 exceptionally large 
class rooms in the other two corners, a girls' toilet lying between one 
and the corridor and a room for men teachers between the other and 
the corridor. The corridor on this floor is wider than on the floor be- 
low, except for the projection into the corridor of inclosed space for 
the stage of the assembl}^ hall. Temporary platform is also provided, 
so that on occasion the stage space may be enlarged so as to cover the 
entire width of the corridor. 

The heating system is a combination j^ressure with pump and re- 
ceiver, or may be run gravity return. When the school is in session 
the water of condensation returns to the boiler by means of the 



58 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

pump, but at night when the fires are banked and the steam sys- 
tem has dropped, the water will return directly to the boilers by open- 
ing the by-pass valves. There are 2 horizontal return tubular boilers 
of 90 horsepower each. There are indirect radiators placed in the 
primary heating chamber and at the base of the fresh-air ducts, be- 
sides direct radiators located in the small rooms and corridors. Air 
is furnished by a 10-foot cone fan, driven by a 12-inch by 8-inch 
belted engine with 25 pounds of steam, delivering, when the building 
is in use, 50,000 cubic feet of air per minute, the ventilation being 
stimulated by means of aspirating coils heated by exhaust steam from 
the engine and pump. The main ducts are of masonry construction 
in the basement. Automatic temperature control is installed in all 
class rooms, assembly hall, and gymnasium. The equipment, fur- 
niture, and finish of the building are worthy of exceptional note and 
entirely in keeping with its beautiful exterior. 

NORMAL AND GIRLS' LATIN GROUP. 

The city is also engaged in the construction of a group of build- 
ings knoAvn as the Normal and Girls' Latin Group, to be situated on a 
lot at the Tremont entrance to the Fenway, the plot being almost 
surrounded by Worthington street. Board of Survey street, No. 219, 
and Huntington avenue. This group, when completed, will comprise 
the Normal School, which contains all class rooms, recitation rooms, 
and laboratories for normal work for 350 pupils — men and women; 
the Model School, in which are IT class rooms for all grades from 
kindergarten up to and including the ninth, 2 rooms for each grade 
except the eighth and ninth ; the Latin School which contains all the 
class rooms, recitation rooms, and laboratories for 600 pupils, and 
the Common building, which contains the gymnasium for the Normal 
and that for the Girls' Latin, dressing rooms, baths and lockers con- 
nected therew^ith, and the wardrobes and lunch rooms. The buildings 
are grouped around a central courtyard and face, a little to the south 
of east, on a planted lot of land belonging to the park department of 
the city of Boston, across which thoroughfare has been given for 
footways to the schools. The Latin and Normal schools occupy, 
respectively, the north and south ends of the lot. The Common 
building comes between on the east, and this will be kept low so as 
not to shadow the court, and the Model School occupies the space be- 
tween the buildings on the west. This leaves, flanking the Model 
School, 2 playgrounds on Worthington street, for the girls and boys 
in the Model School ; and the central courtyard is arranged partly for 
ornamental and partly for experimental gardening. The buildings 
are designed as an harmonious group, executed in brick and limestone, 
with the cornices of terra cotta. Plans for the Latin School and the 
Normal School of this group and a plan of the entire group are 
reproduced. The total cost is estimated as between $720,000 and 





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SECOMDFLOOfcPlAN 



LATIN SCHOOL, BOSTON. 



COIsrSOLIDATIOlSr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 59 

$740,000, exclusive of the site, but including all the trades and the 
buildings completely equipped with all fittings excepting the fur- 
niture. The Girls' Latin School will contain, in its basement, the 
boilers for the whole group and the engines and fan for this building. 
It will have on the first floor 5 small class rooms, 1 large class room, 
2 recitation rooms, assembly hall, and rooms for principal and women 
teachers. On the second floor, 5 small class rooms, 1 large class 
room, library, 2 recitation rooms, 2 rooms for women teachers, and the 
upper part of assembly hall. On the third floor, 1 large class room, 2 
small rooms, 2 recitation rooms, lecture room, and physics and botany 
laboratories. 

The Normal School contains, in the basement, the engine, fan, 
primary coils, and engineer's room; on the first floor, handicraft 
rooms, rooms for manual training, both woodwork and cardboard, 
and a teacher's workroom, a lecture room, 2 drawings rooms, with 
workroom between, music room, large and small room for psychology, 
with workroom between, and a suite of rooms for the teachers, in- 
cluding the principal's room, a reception room, rooms for the men 
and women teachers, and a teacher's lunch room. On the second floor, 
the library, a room for history, 2 rooms for English with a work- 
room between, a large and small room for geography, with a work- 
room between, 2 rooms "for mathematics, with a workroom between^ 
and 2 rooms for instruction in kindergarten work, and also a large 
study hall capable of seating 350 pupils, a hospital room, and toilets ;, 
on the third floor, 2 laboratories for physiology, with a workroom be- 
tween, rooms for household science, containing kitchen and pantry, 
and a dining room and bedroom, chemical laboratory and work- 
room, and laboratories for physics, zoology, and biology, with work- 
rooms between the two last. 

The Common building contains in the basement the heating ducts ; 
on the first floor, which is on a level with the first floor of the adjoin- 
ing Normal and Girls' Latin schools, the main vestibules at either end, 
the wardrobes, toilets, and lunch rooms, on the Normal side for men 
and women, on the Girls' Latin side for girls only, and in the central 
sections, slightly below this floor and on the mezzanine immediately 
above it, dressing rooms, bathrooms, and lockers; for the pupils in 
the two schools, two independent plants. In the case of the Normal 
School, the classes consist of 30 pupils, and as their gymnastic train- 
ing is of a serious nature, for which they will regularly dress, pro- 
vision is made so that the whole class can bathe after their work ; the 
30 showers are arranged in three ranks, with separate control for each 
rank and separate mixers; 3 temperatures can therefore be provided, 
but the class as a whole will be bathed at the same time, taking prob- 
ably not more than two or three minutes. On the Girls' Latin side the 
classes are 50 in number, and it is not expected that the classes as a 



60 CONSOLIDATIOlSr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 

whole will bathe after their ordinary calisthenics; 12 showers are 
provided for use of those who are taking additional exercise, or 
who are working in connection with athletic teams, and these are 
supplied and controlled separately. On the second floor are the 
gymnasiums for the 2 buildings, each gymnasium being approxi- 
mately 55 by 70 feet. Rooms for the directors of physical training 
are provided on the floor and small galleries for spectators at the end 
of each gymnasium. 

The Commission believes, aiso, that the layout of desks for the 
Boston schoolhouses is worthy of note, and have reproduced it here 
by courtesy of Mr. Sturgis. 

The layout for grades 1 and 2 in the primary room differs from 
the layout for the third grade, although the same number of pupils 
may be accommodated, namely 56. The layout in this size room 
for the fourth grade accommodates 50 desks, or more often 48. The 
layout in the grammar room for the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades 
accommodates 56 desks, although in each grade the desks are dif- 
ferently placed. The layout for the seventh grade also accommo- 
dates 56 desks still differently spaced, and the eighth and ninth grades 
in this sized room give a much greater space for the teacher's desk. 
The high school layout in the grammar school room allows for but 42 
desks, but in the larger room allows for 80. 

The Commission also rej^roduces, from data furnished by Mr. Stur- 
gis, figures of cost of the buildings described in this report : 

Figures of cost of Boston schools described herein. 



Name ol building. 



Total cost. 



Cost of 
building- 
only. 



Cubic eon- 
tents. 



Cost per cubic 
foot. 



Building 
only. 



Mather $289,333 

Thomas Gardner 140,268 

Dearborn 216,995 

O. W. Holmes ! 195,648 

J. G. Whittier ' 74,736 

O. H. Perry ' 146,146 

Jaires Otis ' 107,818 

S. W. Mason 1 ' 118,325 

Charlestown High 293,647 

Normal Building '• 320,147 

Girls' Latin ' 296,722 



$241,098 

113.769 

182,104 

159,564 

61,053 

118,497 

90,867 

99,528 

251.256 

272,125 

252,213 



1,353,831 

735„573 

980,100 

991,609 

325,051 

612,351 

411,645 

438,223 

1,170,000 

1,416,947 

1,300,803 



Cents. 
21 
19 
22 
20 
23 
24 
26 
27 
25 
23 
23 



Cents. 



17 
15 
18 
16 
19 
19 
22 
23 
21 
19 
19 



Name of building. 


Number 

class 
rooms. 


Sittings. 


Cost per 
room. 


Cost per 
pupil. 


Cost of 
lot. 


Mather.. _ _ 


.32 
14 

21 
24 
10 
14 
12 
14 


1,600 
700 
1,050 
1,200 
.500 
700 
600 
700 
540 
350 
60O 


$9,042 

10,019 

10,333 

8,1.57 

7,974 

10,4.39 

8,985 

8,452 


$180.83 
200.38 
200.66 
163.04 
149.47 
208.78 
179.70 
169.03 
545.60 
914.70 
494.54 












0. W. Holmes 




J. G. Whittier 


$9,0^.50 


0. H. Perry 




James Otis 

S. W. Mason __ . _. . . - . 


31,172.75 
17,636.31 




57,734.98 


Normal Building 






169,771.50 


Girls' Latin - _ 

















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CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 61 

Total cost figures given cover cost of building, heating, plumbing, 
and electrical contracts, but do not include cost of site. The cost of 
building ordinarily is between 79 and 85 per cent of the total cost 
exclusive of site, and is given in second column. The heating con- 
tract is generally 8 or 9 per cent, but varies between 7 and 12; the 
plumbing contract is generally about 4 or 5 per cent, but may be as 
low as 3 or as high as 8 per cent ; the electrical contract is generally 
about 3 or 4 per cent. 

REMARKS. 

The satisfactory condition of the newer Boston schools is largely 
due to the careful attention to detail shown in the office of Mr. R. 
Clipston Sturgis, chairman of the board of schoolhouse commis- 
sioners. 

As a rule the interiors of the buildings are notably plain and char- 
acterized by exceptionally good materials and excellent workman- 
ship. All minor details from basement to roof show this care, the 
buildings giving an impression of excellent quality. The ncAver 
buildings are finished in corridors and rooms with painted burlap. 
The floors of the rooms are of good hard wood and the corridors 
granitoid, asphalt, or similar construction. The question of artifi- 
cial lighting of class rooms has been well studied. Electricity is used, 
each fixture giving 48 candlepower, there being generally 4 to a class 
room, suspended in the ordinary manner, with the 4 bulbs inclosed in 
what might be described as a hemisphere of white translucent glass, 
convex surface down, the light being diffused and the white ceiling 
reflecting their maximum. 

The fittings of the coat room are also worthy of note. Supported 
by brass brackets, screwed to wooden strips along the walls, are 2 
round wooden rails, about 2^ inches in diameter. The upper rail is 
about 10 inches from the wall and the lower not more than half as 
far and about 6 inches below the other. On top of the rails is a brass, 
round-topped hat hook ; standing vertically and directly underneath 
it is a double coat hook. Fork-shaped clips are in line with this, 
screwed to the wooden strip, devised for holding umbrellas. Three 
steam pipes covered with wire mesh pass along the wall near the 
floor, heat from which dries the clothing when it is hung up wet. A 
continuous zinc-linecl drip pan in which the umbrellas stand is held 
in position by the clips mentioned. 

Stairways are ordinarily of iron, with the tread from 10 to 12 
inches ; riser 6J to 7 inches. Some stairs are of reenforced concrete. A 
view is shown of a bookcase in the interior of one of the Boston class 
rooms. 

The Commission is indebted to Mr. Sturgis for many details given 
of these schools. 



62 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCLIOOLS IN DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 

ST. LOUIS SCHOOLS. 

The newer public school buildings of St. Louis are probably the 
best in the United States. They are almost all of fireproof construc- 
tion and but 2 stories in height, exclusive of the basement floor, which 
generally is built entirely above ground on 3 sides of the building, 
the basement floor being partially or entirely buried by a terrace on 
the entire front in uiost of the buildings, this terrace being used for 
handsome gardening effects to give the buildings beautiful archi- 
tectural setting. The buildings are built to accommodate all grades 
from the kindergarten to the eighth grade, inclusive, from which 
they pass to the high school. They are, as a rule, of what might 
be called the 20-class room type, exclusive of a large kindergarten 
room and 2 rooms for manual training and domestic science, respec- 
tively. The buildings show departures from the conventional cor- 
ridor type, the corridors having outside light through generally 
about half of their length. The wardrobes also have outside light, 
but are entered only from the class rooms. There is usually an E- 
shaped corridor, the entrance hall taking the place of the central 
stem of the E, the large kindergarten room being the only room 
on the opposite side of the corridor and being in size equal to 2 class 
rooms. There are usually 2 class rooms in front of the corridor on 
each side of the entrance and between the other corridors and 3 
rooms on each end on each floor. The principal's office is above the 
entrance corridor and 2 class rooms are above the kindergarten room. 
This is the normal type, although, in some cases, the kindergarten 
is thrown in front of the main corridor and no rooms at all appear 
behind it. This is the case at the Patrick Henry School. 

The schools almost invariablj^ occupy ample sites, giving much 
outdoor playground space for use of the children and allowing the 
height of the building to be limited to 2 stories . and a basement, 
and, as a rule, permitting of a treatment of the front in terraces 
and gardens which gives the building a splendid architectural set- 
ting, showing the building in front as a 2-story building set Avell up 
on a terrace, while from the sides and rear the building appears as 
3 stories, basement entrances being in most buildings directly on a 
level with the ground. Constructions are fireproof excepting the 
pitched roofs, which are of mill constructions covered with sheath- 
ing and tile. The outer and interior main walls are of hard brick 
laid in Portland cement mortar, the minor partitions being of hol- 
low tile and the buildings plastered with cement i^laster. Floors are 
of reenforced concrete and finished with narrow maple flooring in 
the class rooms. In the corridors a similar flooring is sometimes 
used, or sometimes asphalt. Basement floors are of granitoid or 
cement. Steps have risers and skirtings of marble, with the treads 




WYMAN SCHOOL AND TEACHERS' 



B. ITTNER, ARCHH 




FARRAGUT SCHOOL. 



ST. LOUIS. 
(Entrance.) 



WM. B. ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 




HEMPSTEAD SCHOOL. 



ST. LOUIS. 
(Entrance.) 



WM. B. ITTNER, 
ARCHITECT. 




SHEPARD SCHOOL. 



ST. LOUIS. 
(Entrance .) 



WM. B. ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 




CLAY SCHOOL. 



ST. LOUIS. 
(Entrance.) 



WM. B. ITTNER, 
ARCHITECT. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 63 

built in with 1 inch of asphalt. Class rooms are 24 feet b}^ 32 feet 6 
inches, with a clear story height of 12 feet 6 inches. They are 
arranged for left-hand lighting only, a glass surface of 20 per cent 
of the floor area being provided. Class rooms accommodate from 
48 to 54 pupils, depending on the grades, and are equipped with 
single seats. Blackboards are of natural slate placed on the 3 inner 
sides of the room, are 3| feet high, and are set from 2 feet in the 
lower grades to 2 feet 5 inches in the upper grades, above the floor. 
Each class room is provided with a wardrobe 16 feet by 5 feet 3 
inches. Each wardrobe is provided with shelves and 60 hooks, port- 
able umbrella rack, and, as a rule, is entered by 1 door only, but 
has a window opening to the air. The exits for the air are placed 
in these rooms, which insures their ventilation and assists in drying 
out wet clothing. 

Each room is provided with a bookcase containing 65 running feet 
of shelving, a bracketed shelf over the blackboard at the front of 
the room, and picture molding. The class rooms are painted in 
plain colors, with a simple stencil frieze, the friezes in the kinder- 
garten room being especially designed to typify childhood life. The 
corridors have a width of 14 feet, are amply lighted from the out- 
side, and give direct access to all class rooms and the stairways. 
Stairways are usually placed at the ends of the main corridor and 
central to the group of rooms on either side of the axis of the build- 
ing. They are never more nor less than 5 feet wide, with ample 
landings and have solid concrete balustrades. 

The exterior appearance of the buildings could hardly be improved. 
Extravagant material and ornamentation is avoided. The buildings 
announce themselves as handsome, modern school buildings. Very 
little stone is used in trimming. No attempt is made to accent the 
architectural treatment, except in the main entrance, which is gen- 
erally dignified by a fitting treatment. The buildings provide in the 
basement boys' toilet and girls' toilet in the corners, girls' play room 
and boys' play room being large corner rooms occupying the other 
corners and in some cases one or possibly both of these rooms fitted 
up at one end with a small stage for use as an assembly halL This, 
however, is not usual. In addition to these play rooms nearly every 
building shows 2 other play rooms which, in the recent buildings, are 
fitted up as boys' and girls' gymnasiums. These rooms are in the 
main part of the building and have front and rear light by direct 
light from an area which lies between the face of the building and 
the terrace, which is usually found in front of this entire space. 
Fresh-air inlet is betw^een these 2 rooms, the fan and engine room gen- 
erally occupying the exact center of the building, boiler rooms being 
the center of the rear face. The buildings are entered on the base- 
ment floor generally from 2 doors from the rear playgrounds, 1 on 



64 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

each flank, just inside the toilet rooms. There are also front en- 
trances by either a single main entrance directly in the center of the 
building, or in 2 subsidiary main entrances flanking the kindergar- 
ten, which may be thrown to the front of the building, as in the Pat- 
rick Henry School. Usually 2 entrances are provided on the main 
floor at the ends of the corridor just inside the side door of class 
rooms. 

Two rooms adjoin the boys' and girls' gymnasium, flanking the fan 
and engine room, which in some cases are used as storerooms and in 
the congested and poorer sections of the city are fitted up with shower 
baths, and pupils are required to use them. Sometimes a manual 
training room is provided in the basement between the boys' toilet 
and the boiler room, the corresponding space on the opposite side 
being used as subsidiary rooms to the boiler service. The main floor 
of the building has a wide entrance hall, which is flanked by 2 class 
rooms on the main corridor front of the building, the kindergarten 
room with its adjacent rooms being directly across the corridor from 
the main entrance. Windows are provided between the kindergarten 
room and the main corridor, generally of decorative or stained glass. 
These windows assist in the lighting of this, the only part of the 
corridor which is not brilliantly illuminated. 

Usually 3 class rooms are provided at each end of the building, 
leaving space for 2 small rooms between the corridor and inside the 
corner class room. One of these is always used for teachers' toilet 
and the others can be used for recitation rooms or any similar pur- 
pose. The second floor has practically the same plan, the space 
over the entrance hall being utilized for principal's office in 2 rooms, 
a lobby and a large front room. The space over the kindergarten is 
occupied sometimes by 2 class rooms and sometimes by a large room 
used for domestic science or for a school library. Aside from this 
the floor plan is the same as that of the floor below. Plumbing is 
usually of the most approved sanitary type, individual seat action 
closets provided in the general toilets and in the emergency toilets on 
each floor. Urinals are of glass and automatically flushed. Special 
provision has been made for ventilating these toilet rooms, those on 
the main floor having provision made for their ventilation by con- 
taining the exits for the system of forced ventilation of the corridors. 
Drinking fixtures over deep sinks, with porcelain cups, are installed 
in the corridors, in the basement, play rooms, and at least 1 on the 
wall of the building, outside, in each playground. The buildings 
are designed for low-pressure system of plenum steam heating and 
ventilation. Plans of the general basement layout of the heating 
and ventilating apparatus in one of the schools are shown herewith. 

Illustrations herein give the general basement layout of the heating 
and ventilating apparatus for the New Baden School, now in course 





BADEN SCHOOL. 



ST. LOUIS. WM. B. ITTNER, ARCHl I ECT. 

(Ventilating machinery.) 




3 tao 

o 3 




z- 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 65 

of erection. The main portion of this building is to be 2 stories in 
height above the basement, ^Yith an ample lecture room located on the 
third floor. There are 18 class rooms, a kindergarten, and a domestic 
science room, making an equivalence to 21 class rooms. 

The mechanical equipment is designed to furnish the air for ven- 
tilation at a sufficient temperature to make up for all losses. Thus 
there will be no unsightly piping or radiators to contend with in any 
portion of the building. Each duct, with its sizes marked, runs to 
risers H-1 or H-2, according to whether it leads to a first or second 
floor room. 

For a detail of the apparatus, reference is made to cuts herein. 
The plant is designed to operate under a steam pressure of 15 pounds, 
with a back pressure of 2 pounds in the coils. The installation con- 
sists of two 8-foot by 4i-foot fans, direct driven by 15-inch by 10- 
inch and 18-inch by 12-inch engines. The larger engine drives the 
centrifugal pump for the air washer, in addition to pulling its fan. 
This washer is located between the 2 sets of tempering coils in a 
" spray chamber.'' This washer removes practically all foreign mat- 
ter from the air by passing the same through finely divided sprays of 
water. An eliminator removes all excess free water from the air 
before it comes in contact with the next tempering coil. 

The air enters through intake windows, indicated at top of plan, 
and immediately passes through the first tempering coils. The steam 
supply to these coils is controlled by a thermostat located in the in- 
take and automatically turns steam into the coils at some point before 
the outside temperature reaches the freezing point, thus protecting 
the washer from freezing. By-pass doors are located at the side of 
coils and these are gradually opened or closed by a thermostat located 
immediately past the eliminator. Thus a constant temperature may 
be maintained for the air as it strikes the washer. This is a matter 
of considerable importance, as it has a bearing on the ultimate rela- 
tive humidity of the air. 

After passing the eliminator the air meets the second set of tem- 
pering coils, which brings the air up to a temperature of 70°. The 
air then divides and passes into the 2 fans. 

Each fan drives the air through the heating coils into the " hot 
room,'' and under the same coils into the " tempered air room." 
Thus the tempering air is not heated after leaving the fan. A ther- 
mostat is located in this latter compartment, for controlling the by- 
pass doors under the second set of tempering coils, thus maintaining 
a constant temperature of 70°. Tempered aii, hot air, or a mixture 
of the two, is forced by the fan into the air ducts. A thermostat 
located in each class room controls the proportionate quantities by 
means of mixing dampers, and thus a temperature is maintained 
varying not in excess of 1° either side of a given point. 



66 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT CF COLUMBIA. 

. A fresh-air supply of 30 cubic feet per minute is allowed for each 
pupil. This necessitates about 8 complete changes of air per hour 
in every class room. Since the corridors and basement are occupied 
intermittently, 4 changes per hour are planned for these localities. 
All plants are designed to secure these results with a safe margin 
of reserve in case it should be required for any reason. 

The usual boiler installation consists of two 60-inch by 16-foot re- 
turn tubular units with clowndraft furnaces. Except in extreme 
v;eather one boiler is all that is needed and for this reason but 1 large 
boiler is seldom installed, it being preferred to use 2 smaller ones to 
economize the fuel as well as to save head room. Air movements in the 
rooms have been tested and it is found that the fresh air enters at a 
velocity of about 300 feet per minute near the ceiling, evenly distrib- 
uted over the rear two-thirds of the room, gradually driven downward 
by the fresher air behind, then works downward and forward to the 
wardrobe openings. 

A brief tabulation of the cost of some of the recent buildings in this 
city is given later in this report and the Commission considers itself 
fortunate to be able to shoAV so many views of these handsome 
buildings. 

Three types are submitted in plan also, first, of the Patrick Henry 
School, which has no rooms behind the corridor, has 2 main entrance 
steps, with the kindergarten room extending in front of the main face 
of the building between the 2 entrances. Stairs in this type are in the 
front of the building at the end of the corridor and also in the corri- 
dor just opposite the entrance. Basement entrance leads into 2 play 
rooms at the middle of each end of the buildings, the play rooms ex- 
tending the full depth of the building, the toilet rooms being inside 
against the rear face, girls' and boys' gymnasium occupjdng the space 
between the play rooms and the center of the building. This type has 
21 class rooms and a kindergarten, the kindergarten extending only 
through the first floor and having twice the size of an ordinary room. 
The space occupied by 1 class room is given up to principal's office 
and teachers' toilet on the second floor. 

The Patrick Plenry School, which is the one selected as the type, is 
located in a very congested section of the city where the children are 
of foreign birth, and is provided with boys' and girls' shower baths, 
and Avith an installation for washing air in the inlet chamber. 

The second type is the Lafaj^ette type, Avhere there is a single main 
entrance, 2 class rooms on each side in the face directly flanking it and 
a large kindergarten directl}^ opposite. Stairs in this type are in the 
back of the building, opposite the ends of the corridor. 

The third type, and possibly the best, is similar to the first type 
as to the location of the stair, but similar to the second type as to 
the location of rooms. It is slightly longer than the second type and 




LAFAYETTE SCHOOL. 



ST. LOUIS. WM. B. ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 

(Entrance.) 




i 



\ \ 



I \ 

,8 \V I 1 



lil m. pipiS' 












mnii'i^ 



lUIS. 
ion.) 



WM. B, ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 




WM. B. ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 



[gi 




Mckinley high school. 



mr 



ST. LOUIS. 
(Basement plan.) 



, B. ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 



p^ 



1?0' )f- 



T^C OP 




WM. B. ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 




ICLAv/J' R.OOMI 



■-CLAdJ- -ROOM 



Mckinley high school, 



ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 




Mckinley high school. 



WM. B. ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 




IcKlNLEY HIGH SCHOOL. 



ST. LOUIS. 
(Top floor and tower plan.) 



WM. B. ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 




HENRY T. BLOW SCHOOL. 



ST. LOUIS. 
(Entrance.) 



WM. B. ITTNER, ARCHITECT. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 67 

considerably wider than the first. It is noted tliat at tlie William 
Clark School the stairs differ from the usual type in being single 
flight, with a landing at the halfway point. This restricts the width 
of the corridor leading to the flank rooms, but gives a magnificent 
stair, having increased light, in this portion of the corridor. The 
Commission went thoroughly through the William Clark School, 
Avhich was just completed and thrown into service during the past 
summer, and, with the exception of the fact that the school lacks an 
assembly room, it is without doubt as fine a grammar school building 
as can be found in this country. 

Complete plans are also submitted of a new type, which is practi- 
cally the same as the Lafayette type, except for the fact that a small 
assembly hall is provided on the third floor. 

Plans are shown of the William McKinley High School, a build- 
ing about five years old, containing a basement and 3 floors. In the 
basement, besides the heating and ventilating apparatus, are shops 
for manual training instruction, blacksmithing, machine shop, car- 
pentering and joining work, and electrical work. There is a gymna- 
sium 41 by 85 feet, and boys' and girls' shower baths adjoining, with 
locker rooms for boys and girls containing 400 lockers each. Toilet 
rooms and retiring rooms are also jDrovided. A lunch room the same 
size as the gymnasium is also provided, with kitchen and storeroom 
adjoining. Two of the other 3 floors are shown in plan, the first 
floor containing class rooms and the chemical, physical, and biolog- 
ical laboratories, also the main floor of the large auditorium. The 
second and third floors contain a number of class rooms of various 
sizes, most of them being lighted by unilateral light, the third floor 
having th© space for 4 class rooms thrown into 2 large rooms, 1 for 
free-hand drawing and 1 for business training. The second floor cen- 
ter front room is given up to use as a laboratory and on the third floor 
the same room is used for shorthand and typewriting instruction. 
The corridor provides entrance on the second floor level to the gal- 
lery of the auditorium, which provides seats for 200. The main floor 
provides seats for between 700 and 800. There is also, in a tower on 
the fourth floor, an additional large room, 32 by 72 feet, used as a 
mechanical drawing room. Separate boys' and girls' toilets are pro- 
vided on each floor. Small rooms are provided on each floor for 
lockers. The building as a whole is one of the best arranged and 
most useful high schools of this capacity in the United States. 

Views are also show^n of some schools of which plans are not 
shown, and the following table gives some data as to the cost of 
these buildings. The figures show that the costs are fairly uniform, 
and most variations are accounted for by reason of differences in 
conditions of sites, as to grading, foundations, etc., excepting the 
gradual increase for which steady advance in ]3rices of labor and 



68 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 



materials is responsible. The costs given include the preparation 
and improvement of the sites and the buildings complete, exclusive 
only of the cost of the land and the furniture of the school. 



Name of school. 



Blow 

Oote Brilliante 

Clay 

Shepard 

Patrick Henry 

Lafayette 

Franz Sigel 

Hempstead 

Wyman 

Wm. Clark 

Tarragut 

Teachers' College: 
McKinley High__. 

Yeatman High 

Oak Hill 



1901 
1904 
1904 
1905 
1905 
1905 
1905 
1903 
1901 
1903 
1903 
1904 
1901 
1904 
1907 



Sittings. 



1,200 
1,200 
1,200 
1,200 
1,145 
1,200 
1,200 
1,200 
1,000 
1,200 
1,200 
270 
1,103 
1,103 
1,200 



Cost of- 



Site. Building. 



$4,950 
8,340 
10,000 
12,.50O 
60,500 
37,500 
11,401 
13,150 
16,000 
42,000 
18,693 
20,800 
28,400 
41,100 
16,475 



$150,9.81 
162,829 
159,407 
162,229 
203,313 
172,361 
158,598 
180,561 
128,888 
188,902 
174,165 
149,577 
387,247 
399,410 
175,004 



Cost per- 



^^^i*^ Pupil. Room. 



Cents. 
15.7 
17 

19.4 
16.5 
18 

19.8 
17 

17.1 
14 

19.1 
17.1 
21.7 
17.5 
17.7 
22.2 



$125.81 
135.69 
132.84 
135.19 
177.56 
143.63 
132.16 
150.47 
128.88 
157.41 
145.13 
553.98 
351.08 
362.11 
175.00 



$6,290 
6,785 
6,642 
6,760 
8,471 
7,182 
6,608 
7,525 
6,444 
7,871 
7,257 
9,348 



The Commission is indebted to Mr. William B. Ittner for the many 
details and handsome photographs of these schools. 

CLEVELAND SCHOOLS. 

In Cleveland Mr. F. S. Barnum, architect of the board of educa- 
tion, has, in the past few years, prepared plans for a number of fine 
school buildings and carried some to execution. One good example 
is the Marion School, this being an annex to the old Normal School, 
built with connecting corridors to the old building, the architect's 
problem being thereby simplified by the fact that no administration 
rooms had to be supplied. The building contains 12 class rooms on 2 
floors, with central corridor, and it is notable possibly by reason of 
the fact that all of the rooms in the building are identical. All have 
unilateral light, open cloak rooms, with heating device for securing 
ventilation of wraps, and the entire structure showing fine attention 
to detail. The basement contains good play rooms and the double 
building a yard besides. 

WATTERSON SCHOOL. 

The Watterson School, of which a view and plan are shown * is 
a fine 2-floor building, which shows careful study to adapt to a rather 
irregular site, securing maximum playground space, best light for the 
class rooms, and a good assembly room. The lot in this case was 
rather small and a lO-room school building Avas required. In order 
to have playground space of any size it was necessary to place the 
building in the corner of the lot, utilizing one side of the lot through 
most of its length as a party wall and another side in the same way, 
excepting for an alley driveway for fuel supply, the building being 



* Not printed. 




< 

J J 

tx o 

o 

O <Q 
O 




< 

[i. o 
X 

H 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 69 

built thus on a diagonal axis with 2 wings at angles of 45° to the 
axis, the central portion of the building opposite the entrance being- 
occupied, on the ground floor, by an auditorium, the principal light 
here being obtained from a skjdight. In addition to this auditorium, 
there are 4 class rooms on the first floor, a corridor running around 
the assembly hall and reaching the end rooms by passing behind the 
interior room, the 4 class rooms being well lighted by outside light 
from one side only. On the second floor, space over the assembl}^ hall 
is mainly given up to skylight area, and an office room and teachers' 
room are furnished, the corridor on this floor running through the 
building, leaving 2 class rooms on the front over the foyer below. 
About half the lot is thus left in 1 large piece for playground space. 
This building cost a little over $60,000, exclusive of the cost of the 
site, which was about $7,000. 

HALLE SCHOOL. 

The Halle School, of which a view * and plan is given, is a good 
example of an 8-room school building, of the extensible type. In 
this building 8 rooms were erected in 1904, with a view to completing 
the building later, and in 1906 this was done. This building, in ad- 
dition to the 16 class rooms, with cloakroom, has an auditorium on 
the first floor level with a seating capacity of 650; and a basement, 
including a large gymnasium. The heating and ventilating is by 
the plenum fan system and has been extended in the building of the 
annex to apply to the original portion as well. 

DOAN SCHOOL. 

The Doan School, a 3-story building, originally built with but 2 
floors, is an example of a building with a large central corridor, 
lighted by a skylight, which can be used for assembly purposes. This 
building was built in 1903, the rooms being bilaterally lighted, but 
when, in 1906, the third floor was added, rooms were provided with 
unilateral light only, and the architectural treatment of the face of 
the building to meet this change is well executed. The school has 
6 class rooms on each floor, excepting the first, where the front space 
of 1 class room is occupied by a large entrance hall. There are 2 
stairways, 1 at each end of the building, and small mezzanine class 
rooms are provided at the landings. 

EOSEDALE SCHOOL. 

The Rosedale School, one of Cleveland's newest schools, and one 
of the best schools brought to the attention of the Commission, is a 
3-story building, with ample playground, handsome architectural 
treatment, fine class rooms all provided with unilateral light, a good 



70 CONSOLIDATTOlSr OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS TN DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 

assembly hall, and a long, well-equipped garden adjacent to the com- 
modious playground, for instruction in gardening. 

In the newest of the Cleveland schools up-to-date methods and de- 
tails are observable. The unilateral light has been incorporated into 
their system for the ordinary class rooms, and each such room has a 
separate cloakroom, which has, however, an entrance into the corri- 
dor, and not, as in St. Louis and Boston, restricted to the class room 
exits and entrances for purposes of discipline. 

The Commission is indebted to Mr. Barnum for the plans and de- 
tails of these buildings. 

DETROIT. 

Plans of one of the Detroit elementary buildings are shown. This 
building is oblong in plan, similar in arrangement to some of the 
Chicago buildings, with kindergarten room about 30 by 40 feet, lo- 
cated at the head of the entrance stairs, in the middle of the building, 
with class rooms arranged on both sides of the 12-foot corridor run- 
ning through the building. The end rooms were lighted from two 
sides, windows in the two sides being well up toward the ceiling. The 
other rooms were lighted unilaterally. A notable feature in these 
rooms is the arrangement of cloakrooms, without doors, with roll- 
ing fronts similar to the front of a roll-top desk, this front coming 
to within 5 inches of the floor, and the vent ducts for the exhaustion 
of the vitiated air leading off from these cloakrooms. A detail also 
worthy of note in the ducts was a flexible joint between the housing 
about the fans and the ducts leading to the schoolrooms, consisting of 
a joint of heavy canvas, installed to prevent the transmission of vibra- 
tion. Stairs and halls in these buildings are fireproof, stairs having 
cast-iron treads, dished out for topping of asphalt, and the corridors 
are laid in granitoid flooring, which was carried up on the sides, form- 
ing a base similar to the hospital base, for quick, thorough cleaning. 

EOCHESTER, N. Y. 

In the city of Rochester it was observed that the policy of grad- 
ually abandoning small school buildings has been regularly adopted, 
the city being now tied to the erection of buildings of 20 rooms or 
over, the new building, if possible, being near enough to the borders 
of the city to permit of a large enough site to furnish ample play- 
ground and a proper spreading of rooms. The architect is emploj^ed 
by the board of education. 

SCHOOL NO. 13. 

School No. 13 is a handsome building of 2 floors and basement, 
containing 19 rooms, including a kindergarten. It is U shaped in 
plan, with a vacant space at the front of the building, which space is 




CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, SPRINGFIELD. 




CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, SPRINGFIELD. 
(Assembly hall.) 



<h" ^' 




TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL, SPRINGFIELD. 





ARMORY STREET SCHOOL, SPRINGFIELD. 



COXSOLTDATTON OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 71 

utilized for an assembly hall on the ground level. The corridor in 
the main portion of the building runs along this assembly hall at the 
proper height for a gallery. The partition between the hall and the 
corridor consists of a number of large panels, each filled with what is 
essentially a very large window sash, all of which are arranged to 
slide down through the floor, enlarging the gallery by including 
therein the entire width of the corridor. The roof of the assembly 
hall is carried on light trusses supported by the walls of the wings of 
the building, and contain large amounts of glass which flood the 
assembly hall with light and give the stairs, interior rooms, and the 
corridors opening on the hall also an abundance of light. This 
seems an excellent way to provide an assembly hall at a small addi- 
tional cost to the building. The corridors in this building are wide 
and the walls are tinted a reddish brown. Class rooms are 24 by 30 
feet, the walls light green, all class rooms lighted from the outside 
and from one side only. Toilet rooms are provided on every floor. 
There is a teachers' room in addition to the master's room. There 
are also rooms for industrial work for both boys and girls. The 
building has a frontage of 184 feet and a depth of 100 feet and occu- 
pies a large site. The cost of the building was $63,000, exclusive of 
the cost of the site. A view of the stage of assembly room of this 
school is shown. 

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 

This cit3% with a population of nearly 100,000, enjoys a reputation 
with respect to its schools second to no other city in the country. 

CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL. 

One notable building here is the Central High School, architec- 
turally notable inside and out. The building has accommodations 
for 800 pupils, contains 11 class rooms each 26 by 32 feet, 8 recitation 
rooms 17 by 26 feet, each class room containing an ample built-in 
closet for books and supplies. There also is a library room, the size 
of a class room. The laboratory for science work is particularly well 
planned and equipped. On the first floor is an assembly room with 
seats for 800. The basement contains also a large lunch room and a 
special room for use as a girls' gymnasium. 

TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. 

The Technical High School of Springfield is another liberally 
planned building designed to accommodate 1,000 pupils and has a 
present enrollment of 650. It is a 3-story-and-basement building, red 
brick with stone trimmings. The assembly hall, class rooms, and 
recitation rooms differ slightly from those in the Central High 
School, and special features of the building are the shops, which are 



72 CONSOLIDATIOISi OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

ample in size, well lighted, and equipped for evening school work as 
well as for day school work, including 2 bench shops, 1 wood-turning 
shop, 1 forge shop, 1 machine shop, and 1 plumbing shop. The Com- 
mission is informed that the evening trade school Avork conducted by 
the public school system in this building is as extensive and success- 
ful as that anywhere conducted by the public schools. 

Views are also given of 2 grammar schools: First, the Chestnut 
Street School, a T shaped, 22-class-room building, constructed of 
buff brick at a cost of $156,000, to which an addition of 14 rooms is 
now being made. The other, the Armory Street School, is a very 
handsome 2-story-and-basement school of 16 rooms, on an ample 
site, to which, also, an addition is under construction, containing 8 
class rooms and 2 kindergartens. 

BROOKLINE, MASS. 

In the city of Brookline, Mass., there are several fine school build- 
ings. In one of these, the Heath, an idea is being carried out which 
may be of value at some future time in many other cities. This 
school is located on a fine large farm, or park, in a comparatively 
thinly populated section where land is relatively cheap. The children 
are transported to the school in barges from some of the more con- 
gested districts. The land surrounding the building is used for 
playgrounds, gardens, and general park purposes. The building is 
a handsome structure, 2 stories and basement, the basement contain- 
ing boys' and girls' toilets at opposite ends of the building, a large 
gymnasium in the center and boys' and girls' bathroom and locker 
rooms annexed, the mechanical installation occupying one front cor- 
ner room, the opposite corner being used for storage. On the first 
floor there are 7 class rooms, 1 of which is a manual training room, 
and 2 smaller teachers' rooms, with wide corridors connecting all 
rooms. On the second floor the center of the building is a large as- 
sembly hall, a portion of the floor of the room being used as a cor- 
ridor passing between the seats and the platform. There are 5 class 
rooms on this floor, besides 2 small recitation rooms, and a consider- 
able space is given over for hall cloak rooms. 

The high-school installation in Brookline comprises 2 buildings, 1 
the regulation high school building, and the other a manual training 
building, both facing a large municipal playground several acres in 
extent. Facing the playground, also, a fine building for municipal 
baths is now being erected, provision being made for heat and light 
for all three buildings from the plant installed in the manual training- 
building. The high school building is T shaj)ed, the assembly hall 
being located in the stem of the T. The building contains class rooms 
and recitation rooms for 600 pupils, although the present enroll- 
ment is only about three-fourths of this number. The manual train- 




RUNKLE GROUP, BROOKLINE. 




o s 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 73 

ing building- is worthy of special notice, being one of the best build- 
ings in the country for the purposes designed. There is everj^where 
liberal allowance for floor space, which does much to render the 
whole attractive. The building is of basement and 2 floors. The 
basement, which is almost entirely above ground, contains boiler and 
engine rooms, forge shop, and foundry rooms, with stock rooms and 
wash rooms adjoining each, the general toilet room with a bicycle 
room adjoining, and a large dynamo room. The forge shop is in 
part under the main building and in part in a 1-story extension, 
which permits of a skylight, giving excessive height and abundant 
light and air. The first floor contains a carpenter shop lighted on two 
sides, and turning and pattern making shops lighted on two sides with 
a washroom between the two. At the other end of the building is a 
large machine shop, 72 b}^ 50 feet, lighted on 3 sides, and provided 
with a washroom and tool and stock room. This floor contains a 
small room for circular and jig saw work, as well as 2 office rooms. 
The second floor contains 2 rooms for mechanical drawiup;, with a 
dark room and a blueprint room, storeroom and toilet room, all 
grouped at one end of the building. At the other end of this floor are 
4 rooms for domestic art and art metal work. This floor contains 
also library and teachers' rooms. The building cost $93,000 and 
about $30,000 additional to equip. 

A view and plans of all floors are reproduced, with vieAvs of rooms. 

The Commission is indebted to Mr. George I. Alclrich, superintend- 
ent, for the details and views of these schools, 

PROVIDENCE, R. I. 

Possibly the most notable elementary building here is the Ehode 
Island Xormal School, of which a view is given. This building''s 
arrangement and equipment for normal work seem to leave nothing 
to be desired. The various departments have their individual li- 
braries, while one of the prominent features of the school is the large 
general library. There is also a handsome assembly hall, which seems 
to be the actual center for the entire work of the school. A fine gym- 
nasium, with both dressing and locker rooms is also provided. Kin- 
dergarten rooms are very attractive. Facilities for instruction in do- 
mestic science are usually very complete. The building is beautifully 
situated on a commanding site near the State capitol building, on 
large grounds which are very well kept, as the view shows. 

BALTIMORE. 

The new Eastern High School for girls in Baltimore is one building 
which favorably impressed the Commission. This building stands 
on a site about 200 feet square and in ground plan conforms to the 
plan of the lot. The cost, including the site, was about $400,000. 



74 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 

The building- is of plain red brick and Indiana limestone. The walls 
are laid with narrow tuck joints in mortar matching the bricks in 
color. A cut of the buildmg accompanies this report, and also floor 
plans. These show the character of the building very completely. 
Generally described, the building is in the form of a hollow square, 
with assembly room in the center on the first floor. Light for this 
room is received through the roof and on the two sides, which open 
on rather narrow interior courts. There is a wide gallery across the 
rear of the hall, with access from the second floor corridor. The floor 
of the hall inclines toward the stage, which is about 15 feet deep and 
nearly twice as wide, provided with coat rooms flanking and having 
an entrance from the corridor behind. The hall has seats for about 
1,000 pupils. 

Beneath the auditorium in the basement is the gymnasium, an 
ample room well equipped, and having adjacent to it commodious 
shower baths and locker rooms. Heating and ventilating plants are 
also in the basement, locomotive boilers being used for steam, the 
ventilating fans being driven by electric motors, using current taken 
from the lighting corporation. In the basement there is a large room 
to be used for a complete equipment for domestic science, and under 
the front of the building across the corridor from the gymnasium is 
a running track. 

One interesting feature of the basement occupation is the lunch 
room, a large room containing 15 tables, each table provided with 9 
seats. Across one end of the room is a counter, behind which are 
the sideboards, gas range and sink. The building contains strictly 
32 class rooms, 26 by 32 feet in size. The rooms are excellently 
lighted, having unusually large windows, with large single lights. 
There are 4 flights of stairs, as shown on the plans, 1 near each corner 
of the building, and each floor is provided with a corridor with an 
interior corridor entirely around the inside of all exterior rooms, the 
main corridors being 12 feet wide and side corridors 10 feet. There is 
a small coat room provided for each class room but separated there- 
from and opening on the corridor. One point of interest is the music 
room, the size of 2 class rooms, with stage across one end. One class 
room has been converted also into a very satisfactory lecture room for 
science. The building has the usual rooms for biological, physical, 
and chemical laboratories and storerooms. The drawing room is 
more than twice as large as an ordinary class room and receives light 
from one side and from above. The roof of the building is covered 
with smooth tiles and has a high x^arapet, being designated and used 
for a playground, access thereto being easy by means of ample stair- 
ways leading from the third floor corridor. 

Plans of this building are reproduced and also a small view of the 
playground on the roof, the latter being interesting in showing the 
Commission included in the vieAV. 




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EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, BALTIMORE. 
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CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 75 
MINUTES OF SCHOOLHOUSE COMMISSION. 

The minutes of the Commission for the purpose of submitting to 
Congress a plan for the consolidation of public schools in the District 
of Columbia is hereto appended: 

September 20, 1906. 

Members of the Commission : Tlie superintendeut of schools, Dr. William 
E. Chancellor; the Engineer Commissioner, Maj. John Biddle; and the Super- 
vising Architect of the Treasury, Mr. James Knox Tajior. 

The Commission held its first meeting in the office of the Engineer Com- 
missioner, at the District building, at 9.30 a. m., September 20, I90G; all the 
members being present. Upon motion of Doctor Chancellor, the Engineer Com- 
missioner was elected chairman of the Commission. 

The Commission decided that the first step to be taken was to make an in- 
spection of school buildings and school sites in the District of Columbia. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 

XOVEMBEK 2, 1906. 
All members of the Commission made an inspection this date of the following 
school buildings : Good Hope. Stanton, Garfield, Congress Heights, Hillsdale, 
Biruey, Biruey Annex, Van Buren, Van Buren Annex. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 

November 5, 1906. 
All members of the Commission made an inspection this date of the following 
school buildings : Orr, an abandoned school site on Anacostia road, Benning 
Road School and Annex, Benning School, Burrville School, Kenilworth, Blow. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 

November 7, 1906. 
All members of the Commission made an inspection this date of the following 
school buildings : Wheatley, Ivy City, Hamilton, Langdon, Bunker Hill, Brook- 
land, Eckington, Emery, and vacant sites at Langdon and East Brooklaud. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 

November S, 1906. 

All members of the Commission made an inspection this date of the following 
school buildings : Petworth, Bates Road, Woodburn, Fort Slocum, Takoma, 
Brightwood, Rock Creek Ford Road, Military Road. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 

November 12, 1906. 
All members of the Commission made an inspection this date of the following 
school buildings: Grant Road, Chevy Chase, Fort Reno, Tennallytown, Chain 
Bridge, Conduit Road, and Reservoir. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 

November 15, 1906. 

All members of the Commission made an inspection this date of the following 

school buildings : Bowen, Buchanan, Cranch, Tyler, French, Lenox, Giddings, 

McCormick, Dent, Brent, Lincoln. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 



76 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

April 2, 1907. 
All members of the Commission, except Mr. Taylor, made an inspection tliis 
date of the Randall, Cardoza, Sypliax, Ambler, Sayles .7. Bowen, and Smallwood 
school buildings. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 

April 3, 1907. 
All members of the Commission made an inspection this date of the Bell, 
Greenleaf, Amidon, Jefferson, Anthony Bowen, Potomac, and Bradlej' school 
buildings. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 



April 4, 1907. 
All members of the Commission made an inspection this date of the following 
school buildings : Grant, Brooks, Toner, Montgomery, Phillips, Corcoran, 
Weightman, Stevens, Force, Magruder, Berret, Thompson, Webster. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 



April 11, 1907. 

Maj. John Biddle and Dr. W. E. Chancellor, members of the Commission, held 
a meeting this day, and examined the building used as a medical school of 
Howard University, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it was suitable 
for use as a school building. 

The Commission appointed Mr. J. A. Chamberlain as an assistant to the 
Commission, and directed that he accompany the Commission from Washington, 
D. C, to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York and return, his actual travel- 
ing expenses to be chargeable to the appropriation for the expenses of the 
Commission, 1908. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 



April 12, 1907. 

Maj. John Biddle and Dr. W. E Chancellor, members of the Commission, held 
a meeting this morning and inspected the following schools : Arthur, Peabody, 
Hilton, Carberry, Edmonds, Lovejoy, Maury, Webb, Pierce, Patterson, Taylor, 
Ludlow, Blair, Hayes, and Logan. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 



April 19, 1907. 
The Commission, accompanied by Mr. J. A. Chamberlain, director of manual 
training, left Washington on the morning of April 15, spending the afternoon 
in Baltimore, inspecting the high schools and some of the primary schools. 
Arrived in New York at night and spent the next day and morning of the fol- 
lowing day inspecting the several high schools and primary schools in that city. 
During the afternoon of April 17 the primary schools in East Orange and in 
Bloomfleld, N. J., were examined. The board returned to Washington Wednes- 
day night, April 17. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 



April 24, 1907. 
The Commission met, all members present, and insjiected the following school 
buildings : Abbot, Banneker, Seaton, Gales, Jones, Douglas, Simmons, Blake, 
Langston, Slater, Twining, Cook, Morse, Gage, Mott, Garnet, Patterson, and 
Phelps. 

John Biddle, Chairman. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 77 

May 3, MOT. 
All members of the Commission inspected sclioolhouses in Rochester and 
Syracnse, N. Y., and Springfield and Brookline, Mass. Two members inspected 
buildings at Boston, Mass., and Providence. R. I. The Commission left Wash- 
ington on April 29 and returned on the 3d of May. It was accompanied by 
Mr. J. A. Chamberlain, director of manual training. 

John Biddle, Cliainnan. 



May 6, 1907- 
The Commission held a meeting at which were present, Maj. John Biddle, 
Dr. W. E. Chancellor, Mr. J. K. Taylor, and Capt. Jay J. Morrow. Captain 
Morrow having been assigned to duty as Engineer Commissioner of the District 
of Columbia, became ex officio a member of the Commission, vice Major Biddle, 
the retiring Engineer Commissioner. 

By motion Captain Morrow was elected chairman. 

The Commission inspected the following school buildings : Berret, Dennisou, 
Garrison, Harrison, Ross, Monroe, Bruce, Hubbard, Johnson, Johnson Annex, 
Wilson, Morgan, Adams, Miner, and Franklin. 

Jay' J. MoKROw, Chaiiinaii. 



May 7, 1907. 
The Commission inspected the following schools : Wormley, Threlkeld, West- 
ern High, Fillmore, Industrial Home, Jackson, High Street, Addison, Curtis, 

and Hyde. 

Jay J. ]MoRKow, Chairman. 

May S, 1907. 

The Commission inspected the following schools : Eastern High, Towers, Wal- 
lach, M Street High, Armstrong Manual Training, McKinley Manual Train- 
ing, Business High, Polk, Henry, and Central High. 

Jay J. Morrow, Chairman. 

May 20, 1907. 
Capt. Jay J. Morrow and Dr. W. E. Chancellor of the Commission, accom- 
panied by Mr. Snowden Ashford, inspector of buildings, left the city on May 
IG and inspected school buildings in Boston and Newton, Mass., on May 17, 
and (excepting Mr. Ashford) in New York on May IS. 

Jay J. ^Morrow, Chairman. 

September 17, 1907. 
Capt. Jay J. Morrow and Dr. W. E. Chancellor, accompanied by Mr. Snow- 
den Ashford, left the city on September 7, inspecting schools in St. Louis on 
the 9th and 10th, Chicago on the 11th, Muskegon on the 12th, Detroit on the 
18th, and Cleveland on the 14th. 

Jay J. :Morrow, Chairman. 

September 19, 1907. 
The Commission held a meeting this date in the office of the superintendent 
of schools, in the Franklin building, to discuss plans and report. The Com- 
mission met at 9.15 a. m. and adjourned at 11 o'clock to meet again September 
24. Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Ashford were present. 

Jay J. Morrow, Chairman. 



78 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

September 24, 1007. 
The Commission met at the Franklin School at 9.15 a. m., this date, to discuss 
plans and report, and adjourned to meet at the call of the chairman at 12 o'clock 
noon. Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Ashford were present at the meeting. 

Jay J. ]\IoRROW, Chairman. 

November 2, 1907. 
The Commission met at the Franklin School building at 9.15 a. m. this date 
to discuss the plans and report of the Commission. Mr. Snowden Ashford, in- 
spector of buildings, and Mr. J. A. Chamberlain, director of manual training, 
were present. The Commission adjourned at 10.45 to meet at the call of the 

chairman. 

Jay J. Morrow, Chairman. 

November 14, 1907. 
Capt. Jay J. Morrow, while in New York on leave, inspected one completed 
building and four school buildings in course of coustriiction, in New York City 
and in Brooklyn. 

Jay J. Morrow, Chairman. 

January 4. 1908. 
Dr. W. E. Chancellor's connection with the public schools terminated by 
order of the board of education this date, and he having been succeeded by Dr. 
A. T. Stuart, the latter became ex officio a member of the Commission. 

Jay J. ^ionROW, Chairman. 

February 17, 190S. 
The Commission met at the Franklin School building at 9 a. m. Present : 
Major Morrow, Dr. A. T. Stuart. It was voted that Doctor Stuart assume a 
place as member of the Commission, and after an informal discussion a rough 
draft of the report of the Commission was presented by Major Morrow. The 
Commission adjourned at 10.15 to meet at the call of the chairman. 

Jay J. Morrow, Chairman. 



February 25, 1908. 

The Commission met at the Franklin School building to Anally approve and 

sign the report, upon the completion of which the Commission adjourned sine 

die. 

Jay J. Morrow, Chairman. 

Before closing this report the Commission desires to place itself 
on record as appreciating the extreme courtesies of the public school 
authorities of all of the cities visited, and to make especial mention 
of the facilities for the preparation of this report placed at its dis- 
posal by the following officials, many of whom devoted considerable 
time in personally accompanying the members of the Commission on 
inspection, placing at their disposal employees of their respective 
offices, loaning the Commission plates for its printed report and fur- 
nishing photographs for the preparation of plates where no plates 
had been prepared: 



CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 79 

Mr. George I. Alclrich, superintendent of schools, Brookline. Mass. 

Mr. R. Clipston Stiirgis, architect for the schoolhouse commission, 
Boston, Mass., and Mr. D. A. Casey, his assistant. 

Mr. C. B. J. Snyder, architect for the board of education, Xew 
York City and its boroughs, and Mr. Green, assistant architect. 

Mr. William B. Ittner, architect for the board of education. St. 
Louis, Mo. 

Mr. D. H. Perkins, architect for the board of education, Chicago, 111, 

Mr, Chas, Orr, director of education, and Mr, F, S, Barnum, archi- 
tect, board of education, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Messrs. Malcomson, Higginbotham and Clements, architects, De- 
troit, Mich. 

Messrs. Rogers and Manson. publishers. The Brickbuilder, Boston, 
Mass. 

Superintendent C. F. Carroll, Rochester, N. Y. 

Superintendent W. F. Gordey, Springfield, Mass. 

Superintendent H, van Sickle, and Mr. B. B. Owens, supervisor 
of school buildings, Baltimore, Mel. 

The -Commission also desires, to express its appreciation of the 
careful and painstaking work done for it by Mr. J. A. Chamberlain, 
supervisor of manual training of the Washington schools, and Mr. 
Snowden Ashford, inspector of buildings of the District of Columbia. 

And especially does the Commission wish to record its appreciation 
of the work of two former members of the Commission, Lt. Col, John 
Biddle, Corps of Engineers, U, S, A,, former Engineer Commissioner, 
and Dr. William E. Chancellor, former superintendent of schools, 
both of whom took a great personal interest in the work of the Com- 
mission while members, and both of whom contributed largely to the 
study which resulted in the conclusions to which the Commission 
came, and which are recorded in the preceding pages. 

Jay J, MoREOW, 
Major' ^ Corps of Engineers^ TJ . /S. Army, 
Engineer Cor/imissioner, D. 0.., Chairman. 
James Knox Taylor, 
/Supervising Architect, U. /S. Treasury. 



I was not appointed superintendent of schools until the Commis- 
sion had practically completed its investigations and framed its re- 
port, I have read this report with great care and cordially approve 
many of the important recommendations contained therein, but not 
having had sufficient opportunity to consider others in all their bear- 
ings, I have signed the report as a whole with the understanding that 



80 CONSOLIDATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

I do not give unqualified approval of the recommendations enumer- 
ated below : 

1. The conversion of the Central, Eastern, and M Street high 
schools into grammar schools. 

I am not in favor of the general proposition to reconstruct old 
high school buildings into quarters for grammar schools. A build- 
ing designed for the education of the children in the primary and 
grammar grades should be adapted to its uses in every particular, 
and no good reason exists for supposing that a secondhand high 
school building would meet the requirements of a grammar school. 

2. The teaching of first-year commercial work of the Business 
High School in other high schools. This is not in accord with a 
previous recommendation of the Commission providing for special 
commercial and technical schools. 

3. The proposed powers of the Schoolhouse Commission so far as 
they supersede the authority of the board of education in the ap- 
pointment and control of janitors and engineers. 

A. T. Stuart, 
Superintendent^ Public Schools. 

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